County profile · official public datasets

Pitkin County, CO

62 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.7% rated Good, 58.1% Fair, 3.2% Poor.

62
Public bridges: 38.7%
Good condition: 3.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 39%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.2%
Poor-condition share: 62
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Pitkin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pitkin County ranks #25 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.2%). Pitkin County, Colorado contains 62 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.7% are rated “Good,” 58.1% “Fair,” and 3.2% “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

Public highway bridges in Pitkin County

Good condition

38.7%

24 of 62 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.1%

36 of 62 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.2%

2 of 62 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 62 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.7% (24)

Fair

58.1% (36)

Poor

3.2% (2)

Pitkin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,610 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 805 crossings a day against 7,619 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 62 of 62 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29% of Pitkin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 62 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 38.7% 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 99.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 133 ML over CRYSTAL RIVER, built 1966, carries 1,600 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,610 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

1
1940s

2
1950s

5
1960s

7
1970s

3
1980s

15
1990s

15
2000s

12
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1985) matches the Colorado average (1982).

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Pitkin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pitkin County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Delta County	64	51.6%	45.3%	3.1%	1986
Sedgwick County	64	40.6%	57.8%	1.6%	1981
Conejos County	62	38.7%	46.8%	14.5%	1976
Pitkin County (this page)	62	38.7%	58.1%	3.2%	1985
Cheyenne County	61	57.4%	42.6%	0%	1978
Montezuma County	61	27.9%	63.9%	8.2%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (62 bridges here).

Gulf County, FL · 62 bridges
Pickens County, GA · 62 bridges
Switzerland County, IN · 62 bridges
Lake of the Woods County, MN · 62 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 62 Good 24 Fair 36 Poor 2

All bridges (62)

Sort:

Pitkin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pitkin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,610 vehicle crossings a day

29% of Pitkin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 99.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pitkin 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 (62)

FDR 105-4A

CTY RD 23/FDR 106

FDR 310

COUNTY ROAD 3

NEALE AVE

SH 82 ML

FDR 504

CR8/Watson Divide

CR 4F/NAST COLONY

POWER PLANT RD

MILL STREET

COUNTY ROAD 19

CR 20/RED MTN RD

COUNTY ROAD 11

CO RD 4A/FS RD 400

SH 82 ML

CR 13/MAROON CK RD

FDR 121

FDR 105-6C

COUNTY ROAD 15

WOOD RD

REDSTONE RANCH RD

CR 16/LOWER RVR RD

Crystal River Rd.

CR 19/SMITH HILL

SLOPESIDE LN

SH 82 ML

COUNTY ROAD 4/105

CASTLE CK RD/CR 15

SH 133 ML

COUNTY ROAD 11

COUNTY ROAD 4/105

SH 82 ML

SH 133 ML

CR17/ GERBAZ WAY

SH 133 ML

FDR 105-4B

SH 82 EBND ML

SH 82 ML-S/E Bound

SH 82 WBND ML

PINE CREST DR

SH 82 ML

SH 82 ML

SH 82 ML

COUNTY ROAD 4

WOOD RD

PINE CREST DR

PINE CREST DR

SH 82 EBND ML

SH 82 ML WBND

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