County profile · official public datasets

Darke County, OH

463 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 82.9% rated Good, 16.6% Fair, 0.4% Poor.

463
Public bridges: 82.9%
Good condition: 0.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Darke County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 6%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.4%
Poor-condition share: 463
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.

Darke County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Darke County ranks #5 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.4%). Darke County, Ohio contains 463 public highway bridges. Roughly 82.9% are rated “Good,” 16.6% “Fair,” and 0.4% “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

463

Public highway bridges in Darke County

Good condition

82.9%

384 of 463 rated 7-9

Fair condition

16.6%

77 of 463 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.4%

2 of 463 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 463 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

82.9% (384)

Fair

16.6% (77)

Poor

0.4% (2)

Darke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,148 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 574 crossings a day against 970 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 462 of 463 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.2% of Darke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

103 of the 463 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 82.9% 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 69.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

RHYNARD-FINK over NORTH FORK OF STILLWATER, built 1977, carries 797 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,148 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

4
1930s

3
1940s

10
1950s

17
1960s

52
1970s

54
1980s

113
1990s

109
2000s

73
2010s

21
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 113 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Darke County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Darke County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Wood County	508	64.2%	31.5%	4.3%	1980
Darke County (this page)	463	82.9%	16.6%	0.4%	1985
Licking County	439	57.2%	35.1%	7.7%	1988
Lucas County	418	74.4%	23.7%	1.9%	1984
Stark County	415	51.8%	42.7%	5.5%	1973
Wayne County	391	59.3%	33.8%	6.9%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (463 bridges here).

Calcasieu County, LA · 463 bridges
Anderson County, SC · 463 bridges
Jefferson County, CO · 464 bridges
Hamilton County, TN · 464 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 463 Good 384 Fair 77 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (384)

Sort:

Darke County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Darke County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,148 vehicle crossings a day

22.2% of Darke County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 69.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Darke 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 (384)

GRISE

ARCANUM-BEARS

HORATIO HARRIS CK

Rhynard-Fink

ELLIS RD

HILLGROVE-SOUTH

HOUSCHILT ROAD

HILLGROVE-SOUTH

SPRINGHILL RD

HOLLANSBURG-RICH

GETTYS-PITSBURG RD

ELROY-ANSONIA

SR-571

KILBOURN RD.

STINGLEY RD

RICHMOND-PALESTINE

PALESTINE-UC

BEISNER RD.

CONOVER ROAD

WHITERD

LAWRENCE RD

SR118

CONOVER

HOLLANSBURG-SAMP

HORATIO-HARRIS CK

USR-36

SMITH RD

BARNES ROAD

GETTYS-PITSBURG RD

PALESTINE-UC

DARKE-MERCER

BEISNER RD.

BEAMSVILLE-UC

GORDON-LANDIS

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