Total bridges
120
Public highway bridges in Chaves County
County profile · official public datasets
Chaves County, NM
120 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 33.3% rated Good, 64.2% Fair, 2.5% Poor.
- 120
- Public bridges
- 33.3%
- Good condition
- 2.5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Chaves County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- Top 38%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.5%
- Poor-condition share
- 120
- public highway bridges
- 1970
- 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.
Chaves County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Chaves County ranks #12 of 32 New Mexico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Chaves County, New Mexico contains 120 public highway bridges. Roughly 33.3% are rated “Good,” 64.2% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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.
Good condition
33.3%
40 of 120 rated 7-9
Fair condition
64.2%
77 of 120 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.5%
3 of 120 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#12 of 32
Among New Mexico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 120 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 33.3% (40)
Fair 64.2% (77)
Poor 2.5% (3)
Chaves County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,710 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,903 crossings a day against 4,605 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 120 of 120 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
59.2% of Chaves County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
71 of the 120 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 33.3% 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 92.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
FL-5722 over NORTH SPRING RIVER, built 1960, carries 5,280 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 5,710 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Chaves County's bridges were built
120 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s
1930–1939
16 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
10 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
14 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
25 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
11 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
16 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
16 bridges
- 2000s 6
2000–2009
6 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 25 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1970) matches the New Mexico average (1973).
How Chaves County compares with New Mexico's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 New Mexico counties nearest Chaves County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 31 New Mexico counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Otero County | 132 | 38.6% | 61.4% | 0% | 1976 |
| Lincoln County | 131 | 37.4% | 61.1% | 1.5% | 1977 |
| Cibola County | 127 | 49.6% | 40.2% | 10.2% | 1971 |
| Chaves County (this page) | 120 | 33.3% | 64.2% | 2.5% | 1970 |
| Quay County | 118 | 34.7% | 58.5% | 6.8% | 1968 |
| Sierra County | 108 | 27.8% | 67.6% | 4.6% | 1971 |
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 Chaves 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 Chaves County, both outside New Mexico so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NM (120 bridges here).
- Matanuska-Susitna County, AK · 120 bridges
- Indian River County, FL · 120 bridges
- Perry County, MO · 120 bridges
- Schuyler County, MO · 120 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NM (1970 here).
- Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
- Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
- Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
- San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (120)
US-285 Roswell R R
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
1.34 MI S OF US-70/380, Chaves, NM
Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,269
US-285
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
15.8 MI N OF JCT.US70, Chaves, NM
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,476
US-380
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
10.2 M E JCT US 70/285, Chaves, NM
Built 2004 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,120
05-0013
GoodOver: RIO FELIX
20 M W OF EARL CUMMING RD, Chaves, NM
Built 2008 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 194
FL-5722
GoodOver: SPRING RIVER
850S OF COLLEGE/GARDEN, Chaves, NM
Built 2020 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,894
US-380
GoodOver: RIO HONDO
0.7 M E JCT US-380/70/285, Chaves, NM
Built 2008 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 6,221
US-70
GoodOver: US-285
Junction US-70/285, Chaves, NM
Built 1997 Load: 33.6 t ADT: 2,350
US-285
GoodOver: MACHO DRAW
13 MI N OF JCT US-70/285, Chaves, NM
Built 1999 Load: 38.4 t ADT: 3,476
West College Blvd.
GoodOver: Unnamed Waterway
1 M East Jct. W Collage, Chaves, NM
Built 2013 Load: 42.1 t ADT: 1,839
US-70/380 EBL
GoodOver: Eight Mile Draw
7.3 Mi W of US285/Roswell, Chaves, NM
Built 1983 Load: 42.5 t ADT: 3,595
US-70/285 WBL
GoodOver: Eight Mile Draw
7.3 M W Jct US70/285/380, Chaves, NM
Built 1983 Load: 42.5 t ADT: 3,595
C1-106
GoodOver: Hondo River
1.0 MI N OF JCT US-380, Chaves, NM
Built 2000 Load: 45.6 t ADT: 1,281
FL-5724
GoodOver: HONDO RIVER
0.7 M S JCT US-380/ROSWEL, Chaves, NM
Built 2022 Load: 45.7 t ADT: 3,274
NM-249
GoodOver: Pecos River
3.4 M E Jct NM-2/NM-249, Chaves, NM
Built 2013 Load: 46.9 t ADT: 1,472
US-70/380 EBL
GoodOver: Blackwater Draw
12.7 M W Jct US285/Roswel, Chaves, NM
Built 1983 Load: 47.4 t ADT: 3,595
US-70/380 WBL
GoodOver: Blackwater Draw
12.7 M W Jct US-70/US-380, Chaves, NM
Built 1983 Load: 47.4 t ADT: 3,595
NM-13
GoodOver: EAGLE DRAW
4.6 MI N OF JCT US-82, Chaves, NM
Built 2013 Load: 60.9 t ADT: 273
C3-31
PoorOver: PECOS RIVER
3.3 M E NM-2/LAKE ARTHUR, Chaves, NM
Built 1957 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 236
FL-5722
PoorOver: NORTH SPRING RIVER
0.6 MI N OF US-380/ROSWEL, Chaves, NM
Built 1960 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 5,280
05-Z014
PoorOver: PENASCO RIVER
1.5 S OF US-82 AT MP 77.2, Chaves, NM
Built 1980 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 194
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.