Total bridges
41
Public highway bridges in Saguache County
County profile · official public datasets
Saguache County, CO
41 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.8% rated Good, 43.9% Fair, 7.3% Poor.
- 41
- Public bridges
- 48.8%
- Good condition
- 7.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Saguache 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.
- 53rd
- of 64 on Poor share
- 7.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 41
- public highway bridges
- 1972
- 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.
Saguache County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saguache County ranks #53 of 64 Colorado counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.3%). Saguache County, Colorado contains 41 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.8% are rated “Good,” 43.9% “Fair,” and 7.3% “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
48.8%
20 of 41 rated 7-9
Fair condition
43.9%
18 of 41 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.3%
3 of 41 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#53 of 64
Among Colorado counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 41 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 48.8% (20)
Fair 43.9% (18)
Poor 7.3% (3)
Saguache County's Poor-condition bridges carry 905 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 302 crossings a day against 869 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 41 of 41 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
46.3% of Saguache County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
19 of the 41 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 48.8% 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 51.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SH 114 ML over COCHETOPA CREEK, built 1941, carries 470 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 905 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Saguache County's bridges were built
41 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s 2
1950–1959
2 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
5 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
7 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
6 bridges
- 2000s 1
2000–2009
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 10 years older than the Colorado average of 1982.
How Saguache County compares with Colorado's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Colorado counties nearest Saguache County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 12 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 63 Colorado counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yuma County | 49 | 51% | 44.9% | 4.1% | 1981 |
| Jackson County | 47 | 31.9% | 63.8% | 4.3% | 1983 |
| Archuleta County | 44 | 29.5% | 63.6% | 6.8% | 1976 |
| Saguache County (this page) | 41 | 48.8% | 43.9% | 7.3% | 1972 |
| Costilla County | 39 | 15.4% | 84.6% | 0% | 1989 |
| Ouray County | 39 | 43.6% | 53.8% | 2.6% | 1991 |
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 Saguache 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 Saguache County, both outside Colorado so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside CO (41 bridges here).
- Echols County, GA · 41 bridges
- Pike County, GA · 41 bridges
- Ohio County, IN · 41 bridges
- Clinton County, KY · 41 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside CO (1972 here).
- Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
- Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
- Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
- York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (20)
COUNTY ROAD 38A
GoodOver: LA GARITA CREEK
.6 MI N OF CR 32A, Saguache, CO
Built 1985 Load: 15.2 t ADT: 121
SH 112 ML
GoodOver: FARMERS UNION CANAL
12.6 MI NE OF JCT US 160, Saguache, CO
Built 1948 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 1,700
COUNTY ROAD 42
GoodOver: SAGUACHE CREEK
1.1 MI S OF SH 114, Saguache, CO
Built 1987 Load: 23.1 t ADT: 121
D Road
GoodOver: Franklin Eddy Canal
Road D off of highway 17, Saguache, CO
Built 1985 Load: 23.3 t ADT: 10
US 285 ML
GoodOver: KERBER CREEK
0.1 MI N OF VILLA GROVE, Saguache, CO
Built 1970 Load: 23.8 t ADT: 3,200
NFSR 200
GoodOver: PONCHA CREEK
7.5 MI SSW OF PONCHA SPGS, Saguache, CO
Built 1985 Load: 24.6 t ADT: 33
SH 114 ML
GoodOver: DRAW
4.8 MI NW OF 285/SAGUACHE, Saguache, CO
Built 1946 Load: 25.5 t ADT: 550
COUNTY RD LL56
GoodOver: KERBER CREEK
JUST N OF FIRST ST, Saguache, CO
Built 1994 Load: 27.4 t ADT: 47
COUNTY RD LL56
GoodOver: KERBER CREEK
0.5 MI S. OF BONANZA, Saguache, CO
Built 1989 Load: 27.4 t ADT: 18
FSR 787
GoodOver: MIDDLE FORK SAGUACHE CRK
29.7 MI WSW OF SAGUACHE, Saguache, CO
Built 1977 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 11
COUNTY ROAD 46
GoodOver: SAGUACHE CREEK
.6 MI S OF CR 2, Saguache, CO
Built 1990 Load: 30.4 t ADT: 58
US 285 ML
GoodOver: FARMERS UNION CANAL
0.5 MI NO OF JCT SH 112 M, Saguache, CO
Built 1994 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,600
SH 114 ML
GoodOver: SAGUACHE CREEK
13.4 MI W OF SAGUACHE, Saguache, CO
Built 2003 Load: 33.9 t ADT: 370
SH 17 ML
GoodOver: LA GARITA CREEK
9.2 MI N of SH112 ML, Saguache, CO
Built 1947 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 1,400
SH 17 ML
GoodOver: DRAW
9.7 MI NO OF JCT SH 112 M, Saguache, CO
Built 1947 Load: 35.5 t ADT: 1,400
COUNTY RD 38FF
GoodOver: MIDDLE CREEK
8.9 MI N OF SH 114, Saguache, CO
Built 1992 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 53
COUNTY RD HH50
GoodOver: KERBER CREEK
JUST S OF CR LL.56, Saguache, CO
Built 1992 Load: 40.6 t ADT: 75
FSR 650
GoodOver: EMBARGO CREEK
11.3 MI WNW OF DEL NORTE, Saguache, CO
Built 1960 Load: 46.0 t ADT: 112
US 285 ML
GoodOver: SAGUACHE CREEK
1 MI S OF SAGUACHE, Saguache, CO
Built 1968 Load: 60.0 t ADT: 2,300
US 285 ML
GoodOver: DRAW
25 MI S OF PONCHA SPRINGS, Saguache, CO
Built 1970 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 3,200
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.