Total bridges
27
Public highway bridges in Phillips County
County profile · official public datasets
Phillips County, CO
27 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 7.4% rated Good, 74.1% Fair, 18.5% Poor.
- 27
- Public bridges
- 7.4%
- Good condition
- 18.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Phillips County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 64th
- of 64 on Poor share
- 18.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 27
- public highway bridges
- 1973
- 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.
Phillips County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Phillips County ranks #64 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 18.5%). Phillips County, Colorado contains 27 public highway bridges. Roughly 7.4% are rated “Good,” 74.1% “Fair,” and 18.5% “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
7.4%
2 of 27 rated 7-9
Fair condition
74.1%
20 of 27 rated 5-6
Poor condition
18.5%
5 of 27 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#64 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 27 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 7.4% (2)
Fair 74.1% (20)
Poor 18.5% (5)
Phillips County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,340 vehicle crossings a day
That is 41% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 18.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,068 crossings a day against 298 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 27 of 27 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
48.1% of Phillips County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
13 of the 27 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 7.4% 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 35.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 6 ML over FRENCHMAN CREEK, built 1935, carries 1,900 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 5,340 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Phillips County's bridges were built
27 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
3 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
4 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
6 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
5 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 6 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 9 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.
How Phillips County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Phillips County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 18.5% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hinsdale County | 31 | 25.8% | 74.2% | 0% | 1979 |
| Crowley County | 28 | 39.3% | 57.1% | 3.6% | 1980 |
| Dolores County | 28 | 17.9% | 75% | 7.1% | 1964 |
| Teller County | 27 | 25.9% | 66.7% | 7.4% | 1977 |
| Phillips County (this page) | 27 | 7.4% | 74.1% | 18.5% | 1973 |
| Mineral County | 26 | 34.6% | 65.4% | 0% | 1973 |
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 Phillips 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 Phillips County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (27 bridges here).
- Denali County, AK · 27 bridges
- Baker County, GA · 27 bridges
- Alcona County, MI · 27 bridges
- Eddy County, ND · 27 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1973 here).
- Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
- Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
- Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
- Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (20)
County Road 37
FairOver: N Fork Frenchman Creek
0.1 Mi. No. of US Hwy 6, Phillips, CO
Built 1967 Load: 3.5 t ADT: 48
County Road 23
FairOver: Patent Creek
0.5 Mi No of Co Rd 2, Phillips, CO
Built 1966 Load: 12.1 t ADT: 25
County Road 22
FairOver: S Fork Frenchman Creek
Inter. of Co.Rds 22 &, Phillips, CO
Built 1968 Load: 15.6 t ADT: 26
US 385 ML
FairOver: FRENCHMAN CREEK
IN HOLYOKE, Phillips, CO
Built 1949 Load: 17.6 t ADT: 1,900
County Road 21
FairOver: Sandy Creek
0.4 Mi No of Co Rd 14, Phillips, CO
Built 1993 Load: 24.7 t ADT: 65
County Road 29
FairOver: S Fork Frenchman Creek
0.7 Mi. No. of Co. Rd. 22, Phillips, CO
Built 1990 Load: 25.7 t ADT: 78
County Road 49
FairOver: Frenchman Creek
0.9 Mi. No. of Co. Rd. 18, Phillips, CO
Built 1986 Load: 25.8 t ADT: 99
County Road 31
FairOver: N Fork Frenchman Creek
0.6 Mi No of Co Rd 26, Phillips, CO
Built 1989 Load: 28.5 t ADT: 38
County Road 29
FairOver: N Fork Frenchman Creek
0.7 Mi. No. of Co. Rd 26, Phillips, CO
Built 1987 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 4
County Road 22
FairOver: S Fork Frenchman Creek
0.9 Mi. Ea. of Co Rd 33, Phillips, CO
Built 1987 Load: 28.7 t ADT: 40
US 6 ML
FairOver: N.FK.FRENCHMAN CREEK
1 MI W of Paoli, Phillips, CO
Built 2004 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 1,900
County Road 21
FairOver: S Fork Frenchman Creek
0.4 Mi No of Co Rd 20, Phillips, CO
Built 1988 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 74
County Road 22
FairOver: S Fork Frenchman Creek
0.7 Mi. No. of Co. Rd. 11, Phillips, CO
Built 1994 Load: 31.0 t ADT: 19
County Road 61
FairOver: Frenchman Creek
0.5 Mi No of Co Rd 14, Phillips, CO
Built 1991 Load: 31.5 t ADT: 92
County Road 21
FairOver: N Fork Frenchman Creek
0.2 Mi. No. of Co. Rd. 26, Phillips, CO
Built 1992 Load: 32.1 t ADT: 82
US 6 ML
FairOver: DRAW
4.9 MI E OF HOLYOKE, Phillips, CO
Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,500
SH 59 ML
FairOver: FRENCHMAN CREEK
0.8 mi S of Haxtun, Phillips, CO
Built 1959 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 450
SH 59 ML
FairOver: DRAW
38.3 MI N OF JCT US 34, Phillips, CO
Built 1967 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 220
SH 59 ML
FairOver: PATENT CREEK
30.7 MI NO OF JCT US 34, Phillips, CO
Built 1956 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 220
SH 59 ML
FairOver: DRAW
27.9 MI NO OF JCT US 34, Phillips, CO
Built 1956 Load: 96.9 t ADT: 220
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.