County profile · official public datasets

Delaware County, OH

268 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 70.5% rated Good, 27.2% Fair, 2.2% Poor.

268
Public bridges: 70.5%
Good condition: 2.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 28%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.2%
Poor-condition share: 268
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Delaware County ranks #25 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.2%). Delaware County, Ohio contains 268 public highway bridges. Roughly 70.5% are rated “Good,” 27.2% “Fair,” and 2.2% “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

268

Public highway bridges in Delaware County

Good condition

70.5%

189 of 268 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.2%

73 of 268 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.2%

6 of 268 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#25 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 268 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

70.5% (189)

Fair

27.2% (73)

Poor

2.2% (6)

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,315 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,219 crossings a day against 4,793 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 268 of 268 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.9% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

107 of the 268 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 70.5% 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 84% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 257 over PED UNDERPASS AT ZOO, built 1970, carries 11,179 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 13,315 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

5
1920s

1
1930s

8
1940s

3
1950s

38
1960s

31
1970s

26
1980s

24
1990s

48
2000s

49
2010s

30
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 49 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1982, 5 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Delaware County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Delaware County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Shelby County	277	74%	23.5%	2.5%	1989
Hardin County	276	64.1%	28.6%	7.2%	1979
Seneca County	275	72.7%	25.8%	1.5%	1983
Knox County	274	54.4%	40.1%	5.5%	1980
Delaware County (this page)	268	70.5%	27.2%	2.2%	1982
Henry County	265	59.6%	35.5%	4.9%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (268 bridges here).

Polk County, MN · 268 bridges
Jackson County, MS · 268 bridges
Warren County, NJ · 268 bridges
Niagara County, NY · 268 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 268 Good 189 Fair 73 Poor 6

All bridges (268)

Sort:

Delaware County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Delaware County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,315 vehicle crossings a day

39.9% of Delaware County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 84% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Delaware 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 (268)

IR-71 NB

I-71 SB

I-71 NB

GEMINI PL

SR-203

SR 257

SR 257

CONDIT RD.

CENTER VILLAGE RD.

RED BANK RD.

RED BANK RD.

RED BANK RD.

S. GALENA RD.

CENTERBURG RD.

HOME RD.

CARTERS CORNER RD

OLENTANGY RD.

OSTRANDER RD.

MAIN RD.

HYATTS RD.

COLUMBUS ST.

PORTER-CENTRAL RD.

BLUE CHURCH RD.

MILLER-PAUL RD.

HARLEM RD.

N. OLD 3-C HWY.

MILLS ROAD

LAWRENCE RD.

AFRICA RD.

ULERY RD.

BIG WALNUT RD.

STOCKWELL RD.

ROBERTS RD

ROBERTS RD.

CREEK RD.

BAKER RD.

HARTFORD RD.

HORSESHOE RD.

N. COUNTY LINE RD.

DENT RD.

DENT RD.

WILSON RD.

LANE RD.

HOSKINS RD.

C.R. 605

PATRICK RD.

HOME RD.

C.R. 605

N. OLD STATE RD.

CARTERS CORNER RD.

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