County profile · official public datasets

Ashland County, OH

283 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65% rated Good, 32.5% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

283
Public bridges: 65%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ashland County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 283
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Ashland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ashland County ranks #28 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Ashland County, Ohio contains 283 public highway bridges. Roughly 65% are rated “Good,” 32.5% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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.

Total bridges

283

Public highway bridges in Ashland County

Good condition

65%

184 of 283 rated 7-9

Fair condition

32.5%

92 of 283 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

7 of 283 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#28 of 88

Among Ohio counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 283 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65% (184)

Fair

32.5% (92)

Poor

2.5% (7)

Ashland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,091 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,013 crossings a day against 3,598 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 283 of 283 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.6% of Ashland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

112 of the 283 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 65% 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 57% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

USR 42 over LANG CREEK, built 1955, carries 4,040 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 7,091 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

6
1940s

2
1950s

58
1960s

32
1970s

29
1980s

50
1990s

75
2000s

13
2010s

11
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 75 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Ohio average (1977).

How Ashland County compares with Ohio's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Ashland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 87 Ohio counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ashland County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ashland County (this page)	283	65%	32.5%	2.5%	1980
Logan County	281	78.3%	20.6%	1.1%	1979
Shelby County	277	74%	23.5%	2.5%	1989
Hardin County	276	64.1%	28.6%	7.2%	1979
Seneca County	275	72.7%	25.8%	1.5%	1983
Knox County	274	54.4%	40.1%	5.5%	1980

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 Ashland 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 Ashland County, both outside Ohio so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (283 bridges here).

Forrest County, MS · 283 bridges
Cooke County, TX · 283 bridges
Buchanan County, VA · 283 bridges
Logan County, OK · 284 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 283 Good 184 Fair 92 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (184)

Sort:

Ashland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ashland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,091 vehicle crossings a day

39.6% of Ashland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 57% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ashland County compares with Ohio's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (184)

USR 42

USR 42

SR 60 & SR 511

IR 71

IR 71

TR 353

IR 71

IR 71

SR 89

SR 89

SR 179

USR 250

USR 250

SR 302

SR 511

PARK RD TO CABINS

COUNTY ROAD 2175

COUNTY ROAD 1950

TOWNSHIP ROAD 581

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1031

COUNTY ROAD 2175

SHERMAN AVENUE

COUNTY ROAD 1775

USR 250 & SR 60

TOWNSHIP ROAD 852

TOWNSHIP ROAD 629

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1193

TOWNSHIP RD. 462

USR 250

TOWNSHIP ROAD 2475

USR 30

SR 302

TR 1150

USR 250

USR 250

SR 604

SR 302

TOWNSHIP ROAD 799

TR 530

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1688

TOWNSHIP ROAD 655

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1500

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1054

COUNTY ROAD 500

CR 1171

TOWNSHIP ROAD 757

TOWNSHIP ROAD 1904

SR 179

SR 302

USR 42

Related