County profile · official public datasets

Torrance County, NM

70 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.3% rated Good, 50% Fair, 5.7% Poor.

70
Public bridges
44.3%
Good condition
5.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Torrance 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.

22nd
of 32 on Poor share
5.7%
Poor-condition share
70
public highway bridges
1963
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.

Torrance County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Torrance County ranks #22 of 32 New Mexico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.7%). Torrance County, New Mexico contains 70 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.3% are rated “Good,” 50% “Fair,” and 5.7% “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

70

Public highway bridges in Torrance County

Good condition

44.3%

31 of 70 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50%

35 of 70 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.7%

4 of 70 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#22 of 32

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

Condition distribution

Share of 70 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
44.3% (31)
Fair
50% (35)
Poor
5.7% (4)

Torrance County's Poor-condition bridges carry 5,153 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,288 crossings a day against 6,526 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 70 of 70 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

78.6% of Torrance County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

55 of the 70 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 44.3% 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 53.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US-60 over BARRANCO ARROYO, built 1957, carries 2,774 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 5,153 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Torrance County's bridges were built

70 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 10 years older than the New Mexico average of 1973.

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

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

The 5 New Mexico counties nearest Torrance County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1970 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Torrance County and the 5 New Mexico counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Guadalupe County 82 9.8%
Mora County 79 7.6%
Torrance County (this page) 70 5.7%
Union County 68 2.9%
Hidalgo County 58 3.4%
Valencia County 48 4.2%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside NM (70 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside NM (1963 here).

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

All 70 Good 31 Fair 35 Poor 4

All bridges (70)

NM-55

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

12.30 MI N OF US-60, Torrance, NM

Built 1951 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 669

NM-55

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

12.0 MI N OF US-60, Torrance, NM

Built 1951 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 669

NM-55

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

9.20 MI N OF US-60/MTNAIR, Torrance, NM

Built 1952 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 286

I-40 E/WBL

Good

Over: OSITA DRAW

7.0 MI W OF JCT US-285, Torrance, NM

Built 1956 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 24,498

NM-41

Good

Over: CIBOLO ARROYO

3.9 MI S OF JCT I-40, Torrance, NM

Built 1966 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,050

NM-41

Good

Over: ORTIZ ARROYO

1.85 MI S OF JCT I-40, Torrance, NM

Built 1966 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,050

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

4.8 MI E OF JCT NM-41, Torrance, NM

Built 1969 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 27,339

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.20 MI E OF JCT NM-41, Torrance, NM

Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 27,303

L-00034

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

1.20 MI E OF JCT NM-41, Torrance, NM

Built 1970 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,079

FR-4072

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

9.1 MI E US-285/CLINES CN, Torrance, NM

Built 1973 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 6

FR-4080

Good

Over: I-40 EBL/WBL

15.9 M E Jct I-40/US-285, Torrance, NM

Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 501

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

8.93 MI W OF US-285, Torrance, NM

Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 24,498

I-40 EBL/WBL

Good

Over: Pintada Tributary Arroyo

20.2 M E Jct US-285/I-40, Torrance, NM

Built 2016 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 26,409

NM-41

Good

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

2.25 MI N OF JCT I-40, Torrance, NM

Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,105

TAJIQUE CANYON RD

Good

Over: TAJIQUE CANYON

0.4 MI NW/O TAJIQUE CG, Torrance, NM

Built 2011 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 99

NM-542

Good

Over: MANZANO ARROYO

2.1 M N OF JCT NM-55/542, Torrance, NM

Built 2003 Load: 35.8 t ADT: 302

NM-337

Poor

Over: UNNAMED WATERWAY

NM 337 at mp 0.5, Torrance, NM

Built 1958 Load: 17.3 t ADT: 904

NM-337

Poor

Over: PERRO CANYON

2.8 MI N OF NM-55, Torrance, NM

Built 1957 Load: 17.3 t ADT: 904

NM-55

Poor

Over: BNSF RAILROAD

0.2 MI S OF JCT US-60, Torrance, NM

Built 1961 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 571

US-60

Poor

Over: BARRANCO ARROYO

7.7 MI W OF JCT NM-55, Torrance, NM

Built 1957 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 2,774

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

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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.