Bridge improvements coming southeast of Eaton
Published on September 18, 2025
New girders, guardrails and a bridge deck will soon come to Bridge 51/68A, located on Weld County Road (WCR) 51 between WCR 70 and Colorado Highway 392. The rebuild project moved forward Monday when the Weld County Board of Commissioners approved an approximate three-month closure of the road, starting Oct. 2 through Dec. 31. Detours can be viewed on the Weld County Road Advisory Map.
The improvements follow the Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOTs) finding that that bridge is structurally deficient — meaning that while the bridge is still safe for the traveling public, it may have cracks or damage that, if not addressed, could lead to more significant problems in the future. The bridge is currently under a weight restriction of 20 tons, or 40,000 pounds, a common practice before repairs are made.
Approximately 1,080 vehicles travel on WCR 51 between WCR 70 and Colorado Highway 392 daily, with 24% of that traffic being heavy trucks, according to the Weld County Department of Public Works, numbers that could very well grow given the current and expected population growth of Weld County.
“The safety and efficiency of our transportation system is paramount, and bridges are on important part of our transportation infrastructure,” said Curtis Hall, Weld County Public Works Director. “This bridge is still safe, and these improvements will ensure it remains structurally sound years into the future.”
The current weight restriction will be in place until a reinspection is done. After the bridge deck is replaced and it meets the structural requirements of both CDOT and public works, the restriction can be lifted.
Public works maintains 429 bridges within the county’s transportation system. Constant evaluation and maintenance, particularly during road improvement projects, — Weld County Road 29 improvements this year or the WCR 77 project over the last three years, to name a few — has kept the county’s number of structurally deficient bridges at around 5%, a figure that beats the national average of 6.8%, according to a 2025 American Society of Civil Engineers report.
“Public works does a great job at maintaining our bridges, and projects like these reaffirm our commitment to providing a safe and efficient transportation system,” Weld County Commissioner Chair Perry Buck said.
This bridge project follows several other significant ones in recent memory. In 2019, public works finished a 30-year project to replace 200 weight-restricted bridges. Additionally, improvements to bridges on WCR 44, south of Kersey, and WCR 17, southwest of Platteville, were completed earlier this year.