County profile · official public datasets

Butler County, OH

377 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 62.3% rated Good, 32.9% Fair, 4.8% Poor.

Compiled by PlainBridges

377
Public bridges: 62.3%
Good condition: 4.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Butler County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

45th
of 88 on Poor share: 4.8%
Poor-condition share: 377
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Butler County ranks #45 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.8%). Butler County, Ohio contains 377 public highway bridges. Roughly 62.3% are rated “Good,” 32.9% “Fair,” and 4.8% “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

377

Public highway bridges in Butler County

Good condition

62.3%

235 of 377 rated 7-9

Fair condition

32.9%

124 of 377 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.8%

18 of 377 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#45 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 377 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

62.3% (235)

Fair

32.9% (124)

Poor

4.8% (18)

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 90,915 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,051 crossings a day against 8,135 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 377 of 377 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.8% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 377 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 62.3% 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 20.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

BILSTEIN BOULIVARD over CSX RAILROAD, built 1964, carries 18,344 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 90,915 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

6
1910s

2
1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

10
1950s

15
1960s

47
1970s

44
1980s

42
1990s

98
2000s

61
2010s

32
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 98 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Butler County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Butler County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wayne County	391	59.3%	33.8%	6.9%	1976
Trumbull County	383	59.3%	30.5%	10.2%	1977
Butler County (this page)	377	62.3%	32.9%	4.8%	1985
Scioto County	376	65.7%	29.3%	5.1%	1984
Allen County	367	67.6%	22.6%	9.8%	1982
Lorain County	366	53.8%	40.7%	5.5%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (377 bridges here).

Monterey County, CA · 377 bridges
Ogle County, IL · 377 bridges
Cass County, MO · 377 bridges
Butler County, PA · 378 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 377 Good 235 Fair 124 Poor 18

All bridges (377)

Sort:

Butler County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Butler County's Poor-condition bridges carry 90,915 vehicle crossings a day

30.8% of Butler County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Butler 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

All bridges (377)

SR 177

SEWARD ROAD

Princeton Rd

SR 129

SR 4B

SR 73

SR 122

LIBERTY FAIRFIELD

Brate Drive

Hamilton Mason Rd

HARRIS RD

HETZLER RD

HOGUE RD

Cotton Run Road

MAUDS HUGHES RD

THOMAS ROAD

MUHLHAUSER ROAD

FAIRFIELD ROAD

MORGAN ROSS ROAD

Rialto Road

RESOR RD

RESOR RD

SR 128

SB RAMP TO REINART

SR 129

SR 129

WINTON ROAD

SR 122

CLEVELAND AVE

Bonham Road

US 27

Strebee Road

Baker Road

HAMILTON EATON RD

SHURZ RD

TAYLOR SCHOOL ROAD

Cincinnati Dayton

WEST CHESTER ROAD

Meridian Way

Millikin Road

Mauds Hughes Road

SALZMAN ROAD

RODEN PARK DRIVE

UNION CENTRE BLVD

UNION CENTER BLVD

ROSSHANOVER CR178

SR 4 SB

CHESAPEAKE WAY

SR 4 NB

Gates Road

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