County profile · official public datasets

Pueblo County, CO

264 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 29.5% rated Good, 65.9% Fair, 4.5% Poor.

264
Public bridges: 29.5%
Good condition: 4.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pueblo County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 48%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.5%
Poor-condition share: 264
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.

Pueblo County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pueblo County ranks #31 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.5%). Pueblo County, Colorado contains 264 public highway bridges. Roughly 29.5% are rated “Good,” 65.9% “Fair,” and 4.5% “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.

Total bridges

264

Public highway bridges in Pueblo County

Good condition

29.5%

78 of 264 rated 7-9

Fair condition

65.9%

174 of 264 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.5%

12 of 264 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 64

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

Condition distribution

Share of 264 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

29.5% (78)

Fair

65.9% (174)

Poor

4.5% (12)

Pueblo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 82,647 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 6,887 crossings a day against 9,836 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 264 of 264 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.5% of Pueblo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

136 of the 264 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 29.5% 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 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 50 ML over FOUNTAIN CREEK, built 1958, carries 30,000 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 82,647 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

5
1920s

16
1930s

19
1940s

4
1950s

36
1960s

42
1970s

34
1980s

22
1990s

41
2000s

24
2010s

16
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 9 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.

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

The 5 Colorado counties nearest Pueblo County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pueblo County and the 5 Colorado counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Mesa County	319	35.1%	63.3%	1.6%	1981
Boulder County	311	34.4%	63.3%	2.3%	1987
Pueblo County (this page)	264	29.5%	65.9%	4.5%	1973
Douglas County	263	57.8%	39.9%	2.3%	1996
Las Animas County	207	26.1%	59.9%	14%	1968
Otero County	195	24.6%	65.1%	10.3%	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 Pueblo 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 Pueblo County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside CO (264 bridges here).

O'Brien County, IA · 264 bridges
Wise County, TX · 264 bridges
Chatham County, GA · 265 bridges
Rock County, MN · 265 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.

All 264 Good 78 Fair 174 Poor 12

All bridges (264)

Sort:

Pueblo County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pueblo County's Poor-condition bridges carry 82,647 vehicle crossings a day

51.5% of Pueblo County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pueblo 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 (264)

MEL HARMON DR.

SH 231 ML

La Crosse Ave

SH 96 ML

JACKSON ST.

CR 273/APACHE CITY

I 25 ML SBND

I 25 ML

I 25 ML

US 50 ML WBND

BAXTER RD

I 25 SERVICE RD

SH 96 ML

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 ML NBND

BONFORTE BLVD

SH 96 ML

SH 96 ML

I 25 ML NBND

I 25 SERVICE RD

MARILYN PLACE

SH 47 ML WBND

COUNTY ROAD 345

8TH STREET

I 25 ML SBND

COUNTY ROAD

COUNTY RD. 27TH LN

BERKLEY + SMALL AV

LAKE AVE.

US 50 ML WBND

US 50 BUS EBND

SH 45 ML LAKE AVE

US 50 BUS. RT

COUNTY ROAD 346

BAXTER RD.

SH 47 ML

County Road 209

SH 47 ML

I 25 ML NBND

ELDORADO STREET

CR 442 (NYBERG RD)

I 25 ML

CR 342/CedarwoodRD

COUNTY ROAD 30

CR230/BRNT MILL RD

CR 214/CENTRAL AVE

US 50 ML EBND

I 25 ML

I 25 ML SBND

Related