Total bridges
118
Public highway bridges in Montrose County
County profile · official public datasets
Montrose County, CO
118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.4% rated Good, 61% Fair, 2.5% Poor.
- 118
- Public bridges
- 36.4%
- Good condition
- 2.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Montrose County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 30%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 118
- public highway bridges
- 1980
- avg year built
Poor is an FHWA condition category from the lowest applicable component rating (4 or below), not a live crossing-safety or closure decision. Rankings cover counties with at least five public highway bridges.
Montrose County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Montrose County ranks #19 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Montrose County, Colorado contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.4% are rated “Good,” 61% “Fair,” and 2.5% “Poor.” Poor means the lowest applicable deck, superstructure, substructure, or culvert rating is 4 or below on the 0–9 NBI scale. It is a condition category, not a live safety or closure decision.
Responsible agencies inspect covered bridges on risk-based intervals under current NBIS rules and submit inventory data to FHWA annually. The list below shows every NBI-tracked bridge in the county. Use the “Sort by” controls to change the ordering, and click any row for its reported inspection date, traffic count, and condition fields.
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory. See methodology for full definitions.
Good condition
36.4%
43 of 118 rated 7-9
Fair condition
61%
72 of 118 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.5%
3 of 118 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#19 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 36.4% (43)
Fair 61% (72)
Poor 2.5% (3)
Montrose County's Poor-condition bridges carry 763 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 254 crossings a day against 1,587 for a Good-condition one. A Poor rating is a condition category, not a closure or a live safety judgement; it means the lowest applicable component rating is 4 or below.
Computed over the 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
35.6% of Montrose County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
42 of the 118 bridges with a recorded construction year were built in 1974 or earlier. Age alone is not a defect: a well-maintained older bridge can rate Good, and 36.4% of this county's inventory does. Even so, this older cohort is the population from which future Poor ratings are drawn, which is why the age profile below matters alongside the condition split above.
Cutoff derives from the 2024 release year minus a 50-year design life. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
One structure carries 77.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SH 348 ML over IRONSTONE CANAL, built 1963, carries 590 vehicles a day, the most of any Poor-rated structure here. The county's Poor-condition exposure is concentrated rather than evenly spread, so the 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 763 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Montrose County's bridges were built
118 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
16 bridges
- 1960s 9
1960–1969
9 bridges
- 1970s 10
1970–1979
10 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
33 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
20 bridges
- 2000s 6
2000–2009
6 bridges
- 2010s 10
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 33 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Colorado average (1982).
How Montrose County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Montrose County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kit Carson County | 130 | 30.8% | 67.7% | 1.5% | 1970 |
| Lincoln County | 129 | 17.8% | 74.4% | 7.8% | 1977 |
| Montrose County (this page) | 118 | 36.4% | 61% | 2.5% | 1980 |
| Baca County | 106 | 21.7% | 72.6% | 5.7% | 1963 |
| La Plata County | 102 | 54.9% | 43.1% | 2% | 1986 |
| Gunnison County | 100 | 36% | 57% | 7% | 1981 |
Each share is of that county's own total tracked bridges; peers are the counties with 5 or more bridges whose inventory size is closest to Montrose County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Montrose County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (118 bridges here).
- Autauga County, AL · 118 bridges
- Perry County, AR · 118 bridges
- Rabun County, GA · 118 bridges
- Johnson County, IL · 118 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1980 here).
- Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
- Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
- Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
- McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (118)
SH 90 ML
GoodOver: DOLORES RIVER
0.4 MI E OF BEDROCK, Montrose, CO
Built 2017 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 340
CALAMITY ROAD
GoodOver: SAN MIGUEL RIVER
JUST E OF SH 141, Montrose, CO
Built 1986 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 102
SOUTH RIVER RD
GoodOver: IRONSTONE CANAL
2.5 MI W OF SH50, Montrose, CO
Built 2010 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 474
BIG CIMARRON RD
GoodOver: CIMARRON DITCH
8.6 MI S SH 50, Montrose, CO
Built 2020 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 192
KIOWA ROAD
GoodOver: COAL CREEK
7.2 MI NW OF MONTROSE, Montrose, CO
Built 1994 Load: 42.7 t ADT: 201
COUNTY ROAD 6000
GoodOver: MONTROSE AND DELTA CANAL
.7 MI S OF SPRING CK RD, Montrose, CO
Built 1997 Load: 43.5 t ADT: 168
COUNTY ROAD 5800
GoodOver: F G LATERAL CANAL
.25 MI N OF SH 348, Montrose, CO
Built 2021 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 189
WOODGATE ROAD
GoodOver: UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER
4.2 MI SE OF MONTROSE, Montrose, CO
Built 1988 Load: 44.8 t ADT: 342
BIG CIMARRON RD
GoodOver: CIMARRON DITCH
7.6 MI S of SH50, Montrose, CO
Built 2018 Load: 48.0 t ADT: 189
COUNTY ROAD 5600
GoodOver: DRY CREEK
4.3 MI SW OF OLATHE, Montrose, CO
Built 1999 Load: 50.1 t ADT: 127
JASMINE ROAD
GoodOver: COAL CREEK
Just W of CR 5800, Montrose, CO
Built 2016 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 488
COUNTY ROAD V24
GoodOver: TABEGUACHE CREEK
.9 MI NE OF CR Z26, Montrose, CO
Built 1991 Load: 52.9 t ADT: 14
Otter Road
GoodOver: Loutsenhizer Canal
0.1 Mi E of Hwy 550, Montrose, CO
Built 2019 Load: 71.3 t ADT: 787
COUNTY ROAD 5100
GoodOver: WEST WISE CREEK
Just NW of AMBER RD, Montrose, CO
Built 2018 Load: 76.1 t ADT: 73
US 50 ML
GoodOver: SQUAW CREEK
EAST OF CIMARRON, Montrose, CO
Built 1955 Load: 91.8 t ADT: 4,300
COUNTY ROAD 6500
PoorOver: MONTROSE AND DELTA CANAL
1.8 W OF US 550, Montrose, CO
Built 1985 Load: 21.6 t ADT: 116
UNCOMPAHGRE ROAD
PoorOver: SOUTH CANAL
1 M E OF US 550, Montrose, CO
Built 1981 Load: 27.7 t ADT: 57
SH 348 ML
PoorOver: IRONSTONE CANAL
4.5 MI W of Olathe, Montrose, CO
Built 1963 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 590
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.