County profile · official public datasets

Fairfield County, OH

320 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.6% rated Good, 38.4% Fair, 5% Poor.

320
Public bridges: 56.6%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fairfield County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

50th
of 88 on Poor share: 5%
Poor-condition share: 320
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Fairfield County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fairfield County ranks #50 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Fairfield County, Ohio contains 320 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.6% are rated “Good,” 38.4% “Fair,” and 5% “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

320

Public highway bridges in Fairfield County

Good condition

56.6%

181 of 320 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.4%

123 of 320 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16 of 320 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#50 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 320 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.6% (181)

Fair

38.4% (123)

Poor

5% (16)

Fairfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,313 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,270 crossings a day against 4,603 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 320 of 320 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.6% of Fairfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

130 of the 320 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 56.6% 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 27.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

GRE-22 CAMP GROUND over T HOCKING RV(CAMP GROUND, built 1985, carries 9,964 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 16-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 36,313 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

42
1910s

6
1920s

9
1930s

6
1940s

1
1950s

25
1960s

20
1970s

31
1980s

30
1990s

62
2000s

64
2010s

17
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 64 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Fairfield County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fairfield County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Auglaize County	321	81.9%	17.8%	0.3%	1980
Columbiana County	321	58.9%	38.6%	2.5%	1961
Fairfield County (this page)	320	56.6%	38.4%	5%	1973
Clermont County	319	61.4%	30.1%	8.5%	1972
Van Wert County	317	89%	11%	0%	1982
Miami County	315	72.1%	21%	7%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (320 bridges here).

Christian County, IL · 321 bridges
Jackson County, IN · 321 bridges
Umatilla County, OR · 321 bridges
Giles County, TN · 321 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 320 Good 181 Fair 123 Poor 16

Good-condition bridges (181)

Sort:

Fairfield County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fairfield County's Poor-condition bridges carry 36,313 vehicle crossings a day

40.6% of Fairfield County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 27.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fairfield 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 (181)

CLE-21 MURLETE SW

SR 158

SR 312

HOC-44 CR 33A

STATE ROUTE 159

US 22

SR 664

AMA-02 AMANDA N

BER-22 PMP STATION

VIO-06 Allen Rd

S COLUMBUS STREET

US 22 & SR 37

EB USR 33

STATE ROUTE 158

SR 188

LIB-52 T0245

PLE-19 WHEELING RD

BER-38 E FAIR AVE

HOC45 CR90-(BROAD)

VIO-11 Allen Rd

VIO-34 HILL RD S

SR 158

SR 188

DILEY ROAD TR 207

DILEY ROAD

EB US 33

EB US 33

US 22

ROSS ROAD TR 284

EB US 33

EB US 33

CR 30 DELMONT ROAD

WB US 33

SR 37

SR 37

SR 159

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 188

SR 204

SR 256

SR 360

SR 664

BER-21 SHARP RD

BER-30 SUGAR GROVE

LIB-51 MAUGER NW

AMA-18 RIDGE RD G

BER-12 HANSLEY RD

LIB-20 LEONARD RD

Related