County profile · official public datasets

Morgan County, CO

192 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.9% rated Good, 49.5% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

192
Public bridges: 47.9%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.

Morgan County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 192
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Morgan County ranks #21 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Morgan County, Colorado contains 192 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.9% are rated “Good,” 49.5% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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.

Total bridges

192

Public highway bridges in Morgan County

Good condition

47.9%

92 of 192 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.5%

95 of 192 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

5 of 192 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 64

Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 192 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.9% (92)

Fair

49.5% (95)

Poor

2.6% (5)

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,978 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,796 crossings a day against 2,157 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 192 of 192 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

61 of the 192 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 47.9% 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 42.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 76 ML WBND over BNSF RR BEAVER CREEK, built 1960, carries 6,000 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,978 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

1
1940s

6
1950s

17
1960s

33
1970s

11
1980s

24
1990s

38
2000s

31
2010s

28
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1986) matches the Colorado average (1982).

How Morgan County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Morgan County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 8 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Morgan County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Las Animas County	207	26.1%	59.9%	14%	1968
Otero County	195	24.6%	65.1%	10.3%	1973
Morgan County (this page)	192	47.9%	49.5%	2.6%	1986
Logan County	182	36.8%	54.4%	8.8%	1984
Eagle County	174	39.7%	55.2%	5.2%	1984
Garfield County	167	34.7%	64.1%	1.2%	1980

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 Morgan 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 Morgan County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (192 bridges here).

Barbour County, AL · 192 bridges
El Dorado County, CA · 192 bridges
Santa Cruz County, CA · 192 bridges
Kent County, DE · 192 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges
Canadian County, OK · avg 1986 · 493 bridges

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 192 Good 92 Fair 95 Poor 5

All bridges (192)

Sort:

Morgan County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Morgan County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,978 vehicle crossings a day

31.8% of Morgan County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Morgan County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

All bridges (192)

County Road 31

RAMP TO I 76 EBND

County Road 3

County Road 2

County Road 30

US 6 ML

County Road Q

I 76 ML WBND

I 76 ML EBND

County Road 21

County Road W

County Road 20

County Road 28

County Road 22

County Road T

US 34 ML

I 76 ML WBND

I 76 ML WBND

SH 52 ML

County Road 30

SH34 TO I 76

US 34 ML

County Road F

County Road V

County Road U

SH 71 ML

County Road 24

County Road 6

SH 71 ML

US 6 ML

County Road F

SH 144 ML

County Road 2

County Road 29

County Road M.5

County Road 12

SH 144 ML

County Road 26

County Road C

SH 144 ML

SH 52 ML

County Road 13

I 76 ML EBND

COUNTY ROAD 12

County Road 30

County Road 9

County Road 33

County Road 18.5

County Road 14

SH 52 ML

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