County profile · official public datasets

Elko County, NV

217 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.7% rated Good, 52.5% Fair, 2.8% Poor.

217
Public bridges: 44.7%
Good condition: 2.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Elko 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.

13th
of 16 on Poor share: 2.8%
Poor-condition share: 217
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.

Elko County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Elko County ranks #13 of 16 Nevada counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.8%). Elko County, Nevada contains 217 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.7% are rated “Good,” 52.5% “Fair,” and 2.8% “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

217

Public highway bridges in Elko County

Good condition

44.7%

97 of 217 rated 7-9

Fair condition

52.5%

114 of 217 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.8%

6 of 217 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 16

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

Condition distribution

Share of 217 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.7% (97)

Fair

52.5% (114)

Poor

2.8% (6)

Elko County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,172 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,695 crossings a day against 3,594 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 217 of 217 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.3% of Elko County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

120 of the 217 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 44.7% 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 65.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

IDAHO ST over DRY WASH, built 1974, carries 6,700 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,172 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

1
1930s

7
1940s

6
1950s

9
1960s

65
1970s

79
1980s

14
1990s

11
2000s

17
2010s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 79 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.4% 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, 14 years older than the Nevada average of 1988.

How Elko County compares with Nevada's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Nevada counties nearest Elko County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 15 Nevada counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Elko County and the 5 Nevada counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washoe County	334	51.2%	46.7%	2.1%	1986
Elko County (this page)	217	44.7%	52.5%	2.8%	1974
Churchill County	70	51.4%	48.6%	0%	1981
Humboldt County	54	33.3%	63%	3.7%	1970
Lyon County	53	56.6%	35.8%	7.5%	1975
Pershing County	52	42.3%	57.7%	0%	1972

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NV (217 bridges here).

Sullivan County, IN · 217 bridges
Harrison County, IA · 217 bridges
Marion County, IA · 217 bridges
Ringgold County, IA · 217 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NV (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.

All 217 Good 97 Fair 114 Poor 6

Fair-condition bridges (114)

Sort:

Elko County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Elko County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,172 vehicle crossings a day

55.3% of Elko County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 65.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Elko County compares with Nevada's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (114)

FOREST ROUTE 10126

FOREST ROUTE 10026

LAMOILLE CANYON RD

BIA IRR RTE 203

IRR SR225 MNT CITY

FOREST ROUTE 10067

FR EL23

FR EL23

SR230 STARR VLY RD

CEMETERY ROAD

SR 549/ERRECART BL

I 80

SR227 LAMOILLE RD

I 80W

I 80E

I 80W

I 80

I 80

US 93

I 80W

IRR SR228 JIGGS RD

1096: MARYS RIVER

I 80

I 80

I 80E

I 80E

I 80W

US 93A

SR 278 EUREKA-CARL

I 80E

I 80W

1094: WILSON C.G.

I 80E

I 80W

I 80E

IRR SR225 MTN CITY

I 80

I 80

IRR BIA RTE 2

IRR BIA RTE 9

GOOSE CREEK RD

IRR BIA 2

IRR BIA 12

FDR 10128

I 80

I 80E

I 80

I 80

I 80

I 80

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