County profile · official public datasets

Ashtabula County, OH

305 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 72.5% rated Good, 23.9% Fair, 3.6% Poor.

305
Public bridges: 72.5%
Good condition: 3.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ashtabula County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 47%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.6%
Poor-condition share: 305
public highway bridges: 1967
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.

Ashtabula County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ashtabula County ranks #41 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.6%). Ashtabula County, Ohio contains 305 public highway bridges. Roughly 72.5% are rated “Good,” 23.9% “Fair,” and 3.6% “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

305

Public highway bridges in Ashtabula County

Good condition

72.5%

221 of 305 rated 7-9

Fair condition

23.9%

73 of 305 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.6%

11 of 305 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 305 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

72.5% (221)

Fair

23.9% (73)

Poor

3.6% (11)

Ashtabula County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,622 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 462 crossings a day against 2,453 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 304 of 305 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54.8% of Ashtabula County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

167 of the 305 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 72.5% 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 21.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 193 over BR PYMATUNING CREEK, built 1961, carries 995 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,622 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

5
1900s

33
1910s

2
1920s

6
1930s

5
1940s

17
1950s

33
1960s

58
1970s

32
1980s

24
1990s

36
2000s

25
2010s

23
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1967, 10 years older than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Ashtabula County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1967 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ashtabula County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Huron County	311	58.2%	33.8%	8%	1982
Belmont County	310	52.3%	42.6%	5.2%	1982
Athens County	309	54%	39.2%	6.8%	1975
Washington County	309	61.2%	32.4%	6.5%	1974
Ashtabula County (this page)	305	72.5%	23.9%	3.6%	1967
Sandusky County	303	71%	27.1%	2%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (305 bridges here).

Coffey County, KS · 305 bridges
La Paz County, AZ · 306 bridges
Adair County, IA · 306 bridges
Greene County, PA · 306 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1967 here).

Los Angeles County, CA · avg 1967 · 3,547 bridges
Allegheny County, PA · avg 1967 · 1,294 bridges
Sonoma County, CA · avg 1967 · 609 bridges
Merced County, CA · avg 1967 · 528 bridges

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

All 305 Good 221 Fair 73 Poor 11

Good-condition bridges (221)

Sort:

Ashtabula County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ashtabula County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,622 vehicle crossings a day

54.8% of Ashtabula County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 21.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ashtabula 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 (221)

US 20

SR 45

IR 90

PYMATUNING LAKE RD

MILL CREEK ROAD

PARKS ROAD

NORTH CENTER ROAD

BECKWITH ROAD

NETCHER ROAD

MONTGOMERY ROAD

DAWSEY ROAD

WATER STREET

US 6

SR 11

IR 90

I.R. 90

NEW LONDON ROAD

OLD PLANK ROAD

RUSSELL ROAD

GRAHAM ROAD

CAINE ROAD

KIRK ROAD

NOBLE ROAD

WADE AVENUE

SR 11

US 6

SR 11

PYMATUNING LAKE RD

HILLDOM ROAD

NEW LONDON ROAD

SR 11

SR 11

US 20

I.R. 90

SR 193

HILLDOM ROAD

MIDDLE ROAD

MURPHY ROAD

TURNER ROAD

AUSTIN ROAD

I.R. 90

I.R. 90

MILLER ROAD

CREAMER ROAD

ANDERSON ROAD

CAINE ROAD

CAINE ROAD

SCHRAMBLING ROAD

EASTON ROAD

ADAMS ROAD

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