County profile · official public datasets

Defiance County, OH

158 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 77.8% rated Good, 20.9% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

158
Public bridges: 77.8%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 158
public highway bridges: 1991
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.

Defiance County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Defiance County ranks #11 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Defiance County, Ohio contains 158 public highway bridges. Roughly 77.8% are rated “Good,” 20.9% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

158

Public highway bridges in Defiance County

Good condition

77.8%

123 of 158 rated 7-9

Fair condition

20.9%

33 of 158 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

2 of 158 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#11 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 158 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

77.8% (123)

Fair

20.9% (33)

Poor

1.3% (2)

Defiance County's Poor-condition bridges carry 572 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 286 crossings a day against 2,022 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 158 of 158 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

18.4% of Defiance County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 158 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 77.8% 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 53.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SCOTT RD over PRAIRIE CREEK, built 1980, carries 306 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 572 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

1
1950s

3
1960s

15
1970s

10
1980s

39
1990s

22
2000s

43
2010s

18
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1991, 14 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Defiance County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1991 against a peer-group mean of 1971 is 20 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Defiance County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Perry County	175	66.9%	31.4%	1.7%	1974
Monroe County	167	42.5%	47.3%	10.2%	1963
Morgan County	159	52.8%	43.4%	3.8%	1962
Ottawa County	158	65.8%	32.9%	1.3%	1973
Defiance County (this page)	158	77.8%	20.9%	1.3%	1991
Geauga County	141	64.5%	29.1%	6.4%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (158 bridges here).

Napa County, CA · 158 bridges
Wells County, IN · 158 bridges
Jackson County, MI · 158 bridges
Yalobusha County, MS · 158 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1991 here).

Denver County, CO · avg 1991 · 458 bridges
Baldwin County, AL · avg 1991 · 381 bridges
Union County, NC · avg 1991 · 353 bridges
Rock County, MN · avg 1991 · 265 bridges

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

All 158 Good 123 Fair 33 Poor 2

Fair-condition bridges (33)

Sort:

Defiance County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Defiance County's Poor-condition bridges carry 572 vehicle crossings a day

18.4% of Defiance County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 53.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Defiance 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 (33)

SR 15

JERICHO RD

TRINITY RD

JERICHO RD

BEHNFELDT RD

LAKE RD

WMS-DEF CO LINE RD

SR 15

SR 66

BOSTATER ROAD

ROSEDALE ROAD

SR 15

USR 127

SR 249

HILL RD

EVANSPORT RD

SR 2

SR 66 S JEFFERSON

SR 18

SR 15

SR 281 DOMERSVILLE

THE BEND RD

FARMER-MARK RD

JERICHO RD

COY RD

BREININGER RD

SR 18

SR 15

SCHICK RD

JERICHO RD

SR 49

EVANSPORT RD

WMS-DEF CO LINE

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