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

5%

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.

When Fairfield County's bridges were built

320 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

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).

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

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 Poor
Auglaize County 321 0.3%
Columbiana County 321 2.5%
Fairfield County (this page) 320 5%
Clermont County 319 8.5%
Van Wert County 317 0%
Miami County 315 7%

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).

Similar average build year

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

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

Poor-condition bridges (16)

USR 22

Poor

Over: CLEAR CREEK

3.75 M E OF PIC CO LINE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1931 Load: 8.7 t ADT: 4,031

E. SIXTH AVENUE

Poor

Over: FETTERS RUN

EAST OF FRANKLIN AVE., Fairfield, OH

Built 1964 Load: 9.4 t ADT: 9,364

PLE32 OLD MILLERSP

Poor

Over: PLEASANT RN(OLD M-PORTRD

1.3 MI N OF COONPATH RDNE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1900 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 324

WAL-05 GEIGER RD

Poor

Over: T WALNUT CR(GEIGER RD NE

0.1 MI E OF CATTAIL RD NE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1900 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 171

GRE-22 CAMP GROUND

Poor

Over: T HOCKING RV(CAMP GROUND

0.6 MI S OF C.R. 39, Fairfield, OH

Built 1985 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 9,964

RIC-20 RUSHVILLE

Poor

Over: RUSH CR & CONRAIL (CR 77

0.3 MI W OF RUSHVILLE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1928 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 244

WAL-29 CANAL RD

Poor

Over: WALNUT CR (CANAL RD NE)

0.1 MI E OF C. R. 58, Fairfield, OH

Built 1990 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 303

SR 159

Poor

Over: MUDDY PRAIRIE RUN

2.7 M S OF JCT US 22, Fairfield, OH

Built 1954 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 4,748

PLE-04 ELDER RD

Poor

Over: T RUSH CR(ELDER RD NE)

0.1 MI S OF RICHLAND RDNE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1900 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 75

HOC-21 HAMBRUG RD

Poor

Over: MUDDY PRAIRIE RUN (CR55

3.0 MI E OF S.R. 159, Fairfield, OH

Built 1985 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 791

BLO-36 PICKERINGTN

Poor

Over: T WALNUT CR (C.R. 20)

0.4 MI S OF C.R. 23, Fairfield, OH

Built 1900 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 1,710

SR 256

Poor

Over: SYCAMORE CREEK

5.1 M E OF JCT SR 204, Fairfield, OH

Built 1971 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,509

RUS-23 ZION RD

Poor

Over: RACCOON CR(ZION RD SE)

50 FT N OF BREMEN RD SE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1949 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 209

BLO-24 BETZ ROAD

Poor

Over: T HOCKING RV(BETZ RD NW)

0.2 MI S OF C.R. 41, Fairfield, OH

Built 1900 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 351

LIB-19 BASIL RD

Poor

Over: WALNUT CR (BASIL RD NW)

0.1 MI S OF BALTIMORE, Fairfield, OH

Built 1968 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 308

HOC-04 BOVING ROAD

Poor

Over: BIKE PATH- BOVING RD

0.3 MI S OF U.S. 22, Fairfield, OH

Built 1973 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 1,211

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

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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.