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.

When Delaware County's bridges were built

268 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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.

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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 Poor
Shelby County 277 2.5%
Hardin County 276 7.2%
Seneca County 275 1.5%
Knox County 274 5.5%
Delaware County (this page) 268 2.2%
Henry County 265 4.9%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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)

SUNBURY RD.

Good

Over: HOOVER RESERVOIR

0.4 MI W. OF RED BANK RD., Delaware, OH

Built 1954 Load: 61.6 t ADT: 2,399

CURTIS RD.

Good

Over: PRICE JT. COUNTY NO. 276

INT OF CSX RAILROAD, Delaware, OH

Built 2014 Load: 61.6 t ADT: 558

FREDRICKS RD.

Good

Over: CULVER CREEK

0.3 MI. N. OF CENTERBURG, Delaware, OH

Built 1993 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 162

HOME RD.

Good

Over: OVER CSX RAILROAD

0.4 MI. E OF SAWMILL PKWY, Delaware, OH

Built 2011 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 10,969

ORANGE RD.

Good

Over: OLENTANGY RIVER

300 FT EAST OF SR 315, Delaware, OH

Built 2009 Load: 64.8 t ADT: 3,583

FREDRICKS RD.

Good

Over: SUGAR CREEK

1 MI N. OF PATRICK RD., Delaware, OH

Built 1995 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 162

PANHANDLE RD.

Good

Over: HORSESHOE RUN

0.2 MI N OF CASE RD., Delaware, OH

Built 2010 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 1,950

CENTERBURG RD.

Good

Over: SOUTH BRANCH CULVER CREE

0.2 MI. W. OF CONDIT RD., Delaware, OH

Built 2012 Load: 68.0 t ADT: 445

MILLER-PAUL RD.

Good

Over: HUFF DITCH NO.178

0.2 MI. S. OF VANS VALLEY, Delaware, OH

Built 1992 Load: 71.3 t ADT: 600

BARLEYCORN DRIVE

Good

Over: PRAIRIE RUN

50 FT. W OF S COLUMBUS ST, Delaware, OH

Built 1900 Load: 73.9 t ADT: 100

HOWARD RD.

Good

Over: ALUM CREEK LAKE

0.3 MI E. OF OLD STATE RD, Delaware, OH

Built 1974 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 324

W. GRANVILLE STREE

Good

Over: PRAIRIE RUN

0.4 MI E OF N STATE ST, Delaware, OH

Built 1900 Load: 87.2 t ADT: 500

SR 257

Poor

Over: PED UNDERPASS AT ZOO

0.18 MI S OF SR750, Delaware, OH

Built 1970 Load: 12.6 t ADT: 11,179

FULTON CREEK RD.

Poor

Over: FULTON CREEK

1 MI. W. OF SR 257, Delaware, OH

Built 1958 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 324

BURNT POND RD.

Poor

Over: BLUES CREEK

0.2 MI S OF FONTANELLE RD, Delaware, OH

Built 1978 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 324

OSTRANDER RD.

Poor

Over: SCIOTO RIVER

200 FT. E. OF SR 257, Delaware, OH

Built 1968 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 665

TYLER RD.

Poor

Over: BOKES CREEK

0.1 MI. N. OF SR 37, Delaware, OH

Built 1984 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 324

S. WASHINGTON ST.

Poor

Over: DELAWARE RUN

0.4MI W SR23 0.1MI S SR36, Delaware, OH

Built 1992 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 499

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.