Total bridges
137
Public highway bridges in Prowers County
County profile · official public datasets
Prowers County, CO
137 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 17.5% rated Good, 69.3% Fair, 13.1% Poor.
- 137
- Public bridges
- 17.5%
- Good condition
- 13.1%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Prowers 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.
- 61st
- of 64 on Poor share
- 13.1%
- Poor-condition share
- 137
- public highway bridges
- 1974
- 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.
Prowers County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Prowers County ranks #61 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 13.1%). Prowers County, Colorado contains 137 public highway bridges. Roughly 17.5% are rated “Good,” 69.3% “Fair,” and 13.1% “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
17.5%
24 of 137 rated 7-9
Fair condition
69.3%
95 of 137 rated 5-6
Poor condition
13.1%
18 of 137 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#61 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 137 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 17.5% (24)
Fair 69.3% (95)
Poor 13.1% (18)
Prowers County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,413 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 13.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 412 crossings a day against 1,422 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 137 of 137 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
43.1% of Prowers County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
59 of the 137 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 17.5% 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 35.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 50 ML over WILLOW CREEK, built 1936, carries 2,600 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 7,413 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Prowers County's bridges were built
137 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
11 bridges
- 1940s 6
1940–1949
6 bridges
- 1950s 9
1950–1959
9 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
25 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
27 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
25 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
23 bridges
- 2000s 7
2000–2009
7 bridges
- 2010s 4
2010–2019
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 27 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 8 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.
How Prowers County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Prowers County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 13.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Garfield County | 167 | 34.7% | 64.1% | 1.2% | 1980 |
| Fremont County | 137 | 19.7% | 73.7% | 6.6% | 1966 |
| Prowers County (this page) | 137 | 17.5% | 69.3% | 13.1% | 1974 |
| Kit Carson County | 130 | 30.8% | 67.7% | 1.5% | 1970 |
| Lincoln County | 129 | 17.8% | 74.4% | 7.8% | 1977 |
| Montrose County | 118 | 36.4% | 61% | 2.5% | 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 Prowers 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 Prowers County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (137 bridges here).
- Fremont County, ID · 137 bridges
- Orange County, IN · 137 bridges
- Shelby County, KY · 137 bridges
- Mercer County, MO · 137 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1974 here).
- Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
- Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
- Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
- Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (18)
COUNTY ROAD 7
PoorOver: FT. LYON CANAL
.3 MI N OF CR UU, Prowers, CO
Built 1979 Load: 14.3 t ADT: 28
COUNTY ROAD MM
PoorOver: AMITY CANAL
1.0 MI W OF SH 385, Prowers, CO
Built 1970 Load: 16.1 t ADT: 4
COUNTY ROAD 3
PoorOver: FT. LYON CANAL
.2 MI N OF CR SS, Prowers, CO
Built 1988 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 240
COUNTY ROAD HH
PoorOver: CHEYENNE CREEK
1.1 MI W OF CR 39, Prowers, CO
Built 1975 Load: 18.4 t ADT: 12
COUNTY ROAD LL
PoorOver: UNNAMED CREEK
.3 MI W OF CR 8.5, Prowers, CO
Built 1991 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 1,086
COUNTY ROAD 17
PoorOver: AMITY CANAL
2.0 MI N OF SH 196, Prowers, CO
Built 1979 Load: 21.0 t ADT: 243
COUNTY ROAD 26
PoorOver: SOUTH PLUM CREEK
1 MI S OF CR R, Prowers, CO
Built 1950 Load: 21.2 t ADT: 15
US 385 ML
PoorOver: AMITY CANAL
6.8 MI NORTH OF GRANADA, Prowers, CO
Built 1935 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 470
MAPLE ST/CR HH.5
PoorOver: LAMAR CANAL
JUST E OF CR 9, Prowers, CO
Built 1983 Load: 23.3 t ADT: 794
US 50 ML
PoorOver: WILLOW CREEK
2.3 MI EAST OF LAMAR, Prowers, CO
Built 1936 Load: 24.8 t ADT: 2,600
COUNTY ROAD 35
PoorOver: HOLLY SEEP
.3 MI N OF SH 50, Prowers, CO
Built 1940 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 519
COUNTY ROAD MM
PoorOver: PLEASANT VALLEY DRAIN
.2 MI E OF CR 5, Prowers, CO
Built 1960 Load: 26.8 t ADT: 141
COUNTY ROAD LL
PoorOver: AMITY CANAL
.1 MI E OF SH 196, Prowers, CO
Built 1979 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 578
COUNTY ROAD MM
PoorOver: UNNAMED DRAIN
0.1 MI E OF CR 8, Prowers, CO
Built 1975 Load: 28.6 t ADT: 314
COUNTY ROAD SS
PoorOver: TRIBUTARY OF AMITY CANAL
.2 MI W OF CR 8, Prowers, CO
Built 1986 Load: 28.7 t ADT: 59
COUNTY ROAD 19
PoorOver: GRANADA CREEK
4 MI N OF CR N, Prowers, CO
Built 1930 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 29
COUNTY ROAD 6
PoorOver: AMITY CANAL
.6 MI N OF US 50, Prowers, CO
Built 1988 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 245
COUNTY ROAD UU
PoorOver: FT. LYON CANAL
1.8 MI W OF CR 8, Prowers, CO
Built 1984 Load: 34.7 t ADT: 36
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.