Total bridges
140
Public highway bridges in Colfax County
County profile · official public datasets
Colfax County, NM
140 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 37.9% rated Good, 57.1% Fair, 5% Poor.
- 140
- Public bridges
- 37.9%
- Good condition
- 5%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Colfax County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 21st
- of 32 on Poor share
- 5%
- Poor-condition share
- 140
- public highway bridges
- 1969
- 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.
Colfax County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Colfax County ranks #21 of 32 New Mexico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Colfax County, New Mexico contains 140 public highway bridges. Roughly 37.9% are rated “Good,” 57.1% “Fair,” and 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
37.9%
53 of 140 rated 7-9
Fair condition
57.1%
80 of 140 rated 5-6
Poor condition
5%
7 of 140 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#21 of 32
Among New Mexico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 140 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 37.9% (53)
Fair 57.1% (80)
Poor 5% (7)
Colfax County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,122 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 303 crossings a day against 2,088 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 140 of 140 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
75.7% of Colfax County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
106 of the 140 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 37.9% 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 76.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
L-00016 over I-25 NBLS/SBLS, built 1973, carries 1,624 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 2,122 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Colfax County's bridges were built
140 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 5
1930–1939
5 bridges
- 1940s 11
1940–1949
11 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
23 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
34 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
33 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
17 bridges
- 1990s 8
1990–1999
8 bridges
- 2000s 2
2000–2009
2 bridges
- 2010s 5
2010–2019
5 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 34 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1969) matches the New Mexico average (1973).
How Colfax County compares with New Mexico's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 New Mexico counties nearest Colfax County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Arriba County | 160 | 47.5% | 46.3% | 6.3% | 1973 |
| Colfax County (this page) | 140 | 37.9% | 57.1% | 5% | 1969 |
| 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 | 120 | 33.3% | 64.2% | 2.5% | 1970 |
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 Colfax 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 Colfax County, both outside New Mexico so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NM (140 bridges here).
- Henry County, GA · 140 bridges
- Geary County, KS · 140 bridges
- Harrison County, OH · 140 bridges
- Wyoming County, PA · 140 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NM (1969 here).
- Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
- Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
- Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
- Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (7)
07-A011
PoorOver: CHICORICO CREEK
6 MI S JCT I-25/US-64, Colfax, NM
Built 1940 Load: 8.1 t ADT: 129
NM-204
PoorOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
4.1 MI W OF US-64, Colfax, NM
Built 1965 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 43
NM-21
PoorOver: MORAS CREEK
12.8 MI S OF JCT US-64, Colfax, NM
Built 1961 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 97
NM-21
PoorOver: RAYADO CREEK
11.2 MI S OF JCT US-64, Colfax, NM
Built 1965 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 97
L-00016
PoorOver: I-25 NBLS/SBLS
NORTH SPRINGER INTERCHANG, Colfax, NM
Built 1973 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,624
IN-2412
PoorOver: LITTLE CREEK
9.7 MI N COLFAX/MORA CL, Colfax, NM
Built 1973 Load: 34.6 t ADT: 67
IA-2412
PoorOver: LITTLE CREEK
9.7 MI N COLFAX/MORA CL, Colfax, NM
Built 1973 Load: 37.2 t ADT: 65
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.