County profile · official public datasets

Athens County, OH

309 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54% rated Good, 39.2% Fair, 6.8% Poor.

309
Public bridges: 54%
Good condition: 6.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

63rd
of 88 on Poor share: 6.8%
Poor-condition share: 309
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Athens County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Athens County ranks #63 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.8%). Athens County, Ohio contains 309 public highway bridges. Roughly 54% are rated “Good,” 39.2% “Fair,” and 6.8% “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

309

Public highway bridges in Athens County

Good condition

54%

167 of 309 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.2%

121 of 309 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.8%

21 of 309 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 309 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54% (167)

Fair

39.2% (121)

Poor

6.8% (21)

Athens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,355 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 207 crossings a day against 3,276 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 309 of 309 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.9% of Athens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

145 of the 309 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 54% 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 11% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR13 over BILLY CREEK, built 1961, carries 477 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 21-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,355 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

6
1910s

3
1920s

5
1930s

25
1940s

13
1950s

24
1960s

45
1970s

55
1980s

14
1990s

55
2000s

24
2010s

32
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Athens County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.8% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Athens County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Miami County	315	72.1%	21%	7%	1983
Huron County	311	58.2%	33.8%	8%	1982
Belmont County	310	52.3%	42.6%	5.2%	1982
Washington County	309	61.2%	32.4%	6.5%	1974
Athens County (this page)	309	54%	39.2%	6.8%	1975
Ashtabula County	305	72.5%	23.9%	3.6%	1967

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (309 bridges here).

Mississippi County, AR · 309 bridges
Howard County, MD · 309 bridges
Franklin County, IL · 310 bridges
Okmulgee County, OK · 310 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 309 Good 167 Fair 121 Poor 21

Fair-condition bridges (121)

Sort:

Athens County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Athens County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,355 vehicle crossings a day

46.9% of Athens County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 11% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Athens 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

Fair-condition bridges (121)

SR 13

SR 13

USR 33

TR 31

S CANAAN RD

ROBINSON RD

SR 691

WALNUT STREET

SR 550

Valley Street

TR 181

USR 33

TWP RD 68 Possum

T 201

USR 50

BIG BAILEY RUN RD

T1269

TR 68

MEADOWBROOK RD

VORE RIDGE RD

ROM 48C

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