Total bridges
68
Public highway bridges in Union County
County profile · official public datasets
Union County, NM
68 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.9% rated Good, 41.2% Fair, 2.9% Poor.
- 68
- Public bridges
- 55.9%
- Good condition
- 2.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Union County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- Top 41%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 68
- public highway bridges
- 1972
- 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.
Union County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #13 of 32 New Mexico counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.9%). Union County, New Mexico contains 68 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.9% are rated “Good,” 41.2% “Fair,” and 2.9% “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
55.9%
38 of 68 rated 7-9
Fair condition
41.2%
28 of 68 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2.9%
2 of 68 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#13 of 32
Among New Mexico counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 68 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 55.9% (38)
Fair 41.2% (28)
Poor 2.9% (2)
Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 126 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 63 crossings a day against 1,219 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 68 of 68 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
45.6% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
31 of the 68 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 55.9% 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 54.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
NM-456 over IRRIGATION CANAL, built 1965, carries 69 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 126 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Union County's bridges were built
68 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 4
1940–1949
4 bridges
- 1950s 6
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
12 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
20 bridges
- 1980s 5
1980–1989
5 bridges
- 1990s 6
1990–1999
6 bridges
- 2000s 6
2000–2009
6 bridges
- 2010s 1
2010–2019
1 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 29.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the New Mexico average (1973).
How Union County compares with New Mexico's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 New Mexico counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1969 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Guadalupe County | 82 | 23.2% | 67.1% | 9.8% | 1966 |
| Mora County | 79 | 32.9% | 59.5% | 7.6% | 1971 |
| Torrance County | 70 | 44.3% | 50% | 5.7% | 1963 |
| Union County (this page) | 68 | 55.9% | 41.2% | 2.9% | 1972 |
| Hidalgo County | 58 | 17.2% | 79.3% | 3.4% | 1966 |
| Valencia County | 48 | 27.1% | 68.8% | 4.2% | 1977 |
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 Union 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 Union County, both outside New Mexico so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside NM (68 bridges here).
- Bent County, CO · 68 bridges
- Columbia County, GA · 68 bridges
- Talbot County, GA · 68 bridges
- Wilcox County, GA · 68 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside NM (1972 here).
- Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
- Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
- Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
- York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (68)
NM-402
GoodOver: PERICO CREEK
17.6 MI N OF JCT NM-421, Union, NM
Built 1988 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 328
US-56/64
GoodOver: APACHE CREEK
4.2 MI E OF JCT NM-406, Union, NM
Built 1990 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,514
NM-456
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
27.8 MI N NM-325/FOLSOM, Union, NM
Built 1997 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 69
NM-402
GoodOver: SAND DRAW CREEK
13.7 MI N OF NM-421/SEDAN, Union, NM
Built 2007 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 328
NM-406
GoodOver: CARRIZOZO CREEK
1.2 MI S OF JCT NM-456, Union, NM
Built 1984 Load: 32.8 t ADT: 57
NM-120
GoodOver: Ute Creek
8.0 Mi S Of Jct. US-56, Union, NM
Built 2001 Load: 37.4 t ADT: 62
US-56
GoodOver: CARRIZO CREEK
10.7 Mi. E Of Jct. NM-453, Union, NM
Built 2001 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 471
NM-406
GoodOver: RABBIT EAR CREEK
2.4 MI N OF JCT US-56/64, Union, NM
Built 1992 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 163
NM-456
GoodOver: OAK CREEK
6.2 MI NE OF JCT NM-325, Union, NM
Built 1978 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 138
NM-456
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
2.9 MI E OF JCT NM-406, Union, NM
Built 1988 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 33
NM-456
GoodOver: UNNAMED WATERWAY
3.9 MI E OF JCT NM-406, Union, NM
Built 1988 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 33
NM-370
GoodOver: CORRUMPA CREEK
22.0 MI N US-64 @ CLAYTON, Union, NM
Built 1992 Load: 43.8 t ADT: 77
NM-562
GoodOver: CARRIZO CREEK
1.2 MI W OF JCT NM-402, Union, NM
Built 1992 Load: 43.8 t ADT: 66
NM-456
GoodOver: CIMARRON RIVER
24.3 MI NE OF JCT NM-325, Union, NM
Built 2015 Load: 45.1 t ADT: 62
NM-456
GoodOver: CIMARRON RIVER
12.3 MI E OF JCT NM-370, Union, NM
Built 2023 Load: 55.5 t ADT: 33
NM-456
GoodOver: CIMARRON RIVER
0.1 MI NE OF JCT NM-325, Union, NM
Built 1936 Load: 75.9 t ADT: 138
NM-456
PoorOver: IRRIGATION CANAL
23.5 MI NE JCT US-64/87, Union, NM
Built 1965 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 69
NM-406
PoorOver: ROAD CANYON DRAW
4.2 MI S OF JCT NM-456, Union, NM
Built 1957 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 57
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.