County profile · official public datasets

Quay County, NM

118 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.7% rated Good, 58.5% Fair, 6.8% Poor.

118
Public bridges
34.7%
Good condition
6.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Quay 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.

25th
of 32 on Poor share
6.8%
Poor-condition share
118
public highway bridges
1968
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.

Quay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Quay County ranks #25 of 32 New Mexico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.8%). Quay County, New Mexico contains 118 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.7% are rated “Good,” 58.5% “Fair,” and 6.8% “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

118

Public highway bridges in Quay County

Good condition

34.7%

41 of 118 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.5%

69 of 118 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.8%

8 of 118 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 32

Among New Mexico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 118 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
34.7% (41)
Fair
58.5% (69)
Poor
6.8% (8)

Quay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,057 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 132 crossings a day against 5,364 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 118 of 118 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.4% of Quay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

63 of the 118 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 34.7% 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 24.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FR-4114 over I-40 EBL and WBL, built 1958, carries 263 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,057 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Quay County's bridges were built

118 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1968, 5 years older than the New Mexico average of 1973.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Quay County compares with New Mexico's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 New Mexico counties nearest Quay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.8% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 31 New Mexico counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Quay County and the 5 New Mexico counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Lincoln County 131 1.5%
Cibola County 127 10.2%
Chaves County 120 2.5%
Quay County (this page) 118 6.8%
Sierra County 108 4.6%
Luna County 107 0%

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 Quay 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 Quay County, both outside New Mexico so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NM (118 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NM (1968 here).

Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.

All 118 Good 41 Fair 69 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (41)

FR-4102

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

39.0 MI E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1936 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 131

FR-4102

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

40.7 M E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1936 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 131

NM-209

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

18.0 MI S OF JCT LOOP-36, Quay, NM

Built 1940 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 535

NM-209

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

11.2 MI S OF JCT LOOP-36, Quay, NM

Built 1940 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 535

FR-4102

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

8.6 M E QUAY/QUADALUPE CL, Quay, NM

Built 1936 Load: 30.8 t ADT: 131

37-Z001

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

5.6 MI E OF JCT NM-469, Quay, NM

Built 1952 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 60

FR-4102

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.5 M E OF QUAY/GUADALUPE, Quay, NM

Built 1952 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 131

I-40 EBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

37.8 MI E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,710

I-40 WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

37.8 MI E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,710

I-40 EBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

39.0 MI E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,710

I-40 WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

39.0 MI E OF JCT US-84, Quay, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,710

I-40 WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

17.2 MI E OF NM-129, Quay, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,710

US-54

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

25.2 MI E OF JCT NM-39, Quay, NM

Built 1965 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,552

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

27.5 MI E OF JCT NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 11,230

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

29.6 MI E OF JCT NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 12,958

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

32.5 MI E OF JCT NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1975 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 13,543

FR-4125

Good

Over: Unnamed Waterway

Jct.of Fr. &QR-AD, Quay, NM

Built 1979 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 62

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.0 MI E OF TUCUM W INCHG, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 14,478

FL-5355

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

0.4 MI S OF JCT LOOP-36, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 94

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: LOCAL ROAD

5.1 MI E OF JCT NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 17,957

37-QRAD

Good

Over: HUDSON CANAL

2.4 MI S OF US-54 m.316.4, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 180

FR-4118

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

10.5 M E JCT NM209&I-40, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 273

NM-156

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

10.8 MI W OF JCT NM-252, Quay, NM

Built 1978 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 68

NM-469

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.3 MI S OF I-40/SAN JON, Quay, NM

Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 470

NM-469

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.8 MI S OF I-40/SAN JON, Quay, NM

Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 470

37-QR63

Good

Over: BLUE HOLE CREEK

0.5 MI W OF JCT CR-A021, Quay, NM

Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 94

NM-209

Good

Over: PLAZA LARGA CREEK

9.4 MI S OF LOOP-36/TUCUM, Quay, NM

Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 535

NM-278

Good

Over: HITTSON CREEK

1.4 MI SOUTH OF JCT US-66, Quay, NM

Built 1987 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 193

NM-104

Good

Over: Union Pacific Railroad

0.1 MI N OF US-54/TUCUMCA, Quay, NM

Built 1993 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,044

37-QR-AR

Good

Over: PAJARITO CREEK

2.8 M. NW OF LOOP 36, Quay, NM

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 94

US-54

Good

Over: Union Pacific Railroad

2.45 MI N OF JCT I-40, Quay, NM

Built 1990 Load: 33.8 t ADT: 3,403

I-40 WBL

Good

Over: Waterfall Creek

10.3 Mi E of Jct NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1979 Load: 34.3 t ADT: 13,910

I-40 EBL

Good

Over: NM-286

6 M E Jct NM-209/I-40, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 13,025

I-40 WBL

Good

Over: NM-286

6 M E Jct I-40/NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 13,025

FL-5355

Good

Over: CONCHAS CANAL

0.2 MI S OF JCT LOOP-36, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 34.5 t ADT: 94

NM-402

Good

Over: Traques Creek

5.6 Mi N Of Jct US-54, Quay, NM

Built 2010 Load: 34.9 t ADT: 237

NM-278

Good

Over: PLAZA LARGA CREEK

5.5 MI S OF JCT US-66, Quay, NM

Built 1980 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 193

US-54

Good

Over: Union Pacific Railroad

0.4 Mi E Of Jct. NM-39_, Quay, NM

Built 2001 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 2,992

FR-4118

Good

Over: HUDSON CANAL

3.7 MI E OF JCT NM-209, Quay, NM

Built 1981 Load: 39.8 t ADT: 273

NM-209

Good

Over: TEJANO CREEK

14.0 MI S OF JCT LOOP-36, Quay, NM

Built 2015 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 588

US-54

Good

Over: Canadian River

1.0 Mi N Jct NM469/US54, Quay, NM

Built 2020 Load: 60.8 t ADT: 3,681

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.