County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, OH

241 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 60.2% rated Good, 39% Fair, 0.8% Poor.

241
Public bridges: 60.2%
Good condition: 0.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fayette County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 9%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.8%
Poor-condition share: 241
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #8 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.8%). Fayette County, Ohio contains 241 public highway bridges. Roughly 60.2% are rated “Good,” 39% “Fair,” and 0.8% “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

241

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

60.2%

145 of 241 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39%

94 of 241 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.8%

2 of 241 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 241 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

60.2% (145)

Fair

39% (94)

Poor

0.8% (2)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 800 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 400 crossings a day against 3,006 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 241 of 241 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.1% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

116 of the 241 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 60.2% 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 51.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

MATHEWS RD-CR 119 over E.F.PAINT CK-MATHEWS ROA, built 1980, carries 415 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 800 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1930s

3
1940s

2
1950s

17
1960s

65
1970s

44
1980s

27
1990s

38
2000s

32
2010s

10
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 65 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.8% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Highland County	245	69.8%	28.2%	2%	1985
Pike County	245	65.7%	27.8%	6.5%	1988
Williams County	242	52.5%	45%	2.5%	1974
Fayette County (this page)	241	60.2%	39%	0.8%	1979
Gallia County	237	38.4%	56.1%	5.5%	1973
Wyandot County	236	71.2%	27.1%	1.7%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (241 bridges here).

Sumter County, AL · 241 bridges
Hardin County, IA · 241 bridges
Iowa County, IA · 241 bridges
Barber County, KS · 241 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 241 Good 145 Fair 94 Poor 2

All bridges (241)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 800 vehicle crossings a day

48.1% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 51.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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 (241)

ODNR 58

MARK ROAD-TR54

SR 729

SR 734

SR 734

CIVIC DRIVE

US 35

USR 62

I 71

SR 729

SR 753

GRASSY BRANCH RD

BLESSING CHAPEL RD

CO 035B

US 35

US 35

CR 38A

SR 38

SR 734

FISHBACK ROAD

OLD US35

EYMAN PARK DRIVE

US 22

USR 22

US 35

US 35 RT

US 35

US 35

US 35

US 35

US 35

US 35

US 35

SR 41

I 71

I-71

I-71

SR 729

SNOWHILL ROAD-CR9

SNOWHILL-CR9

PALMER RD-TR 66

MARCHANT LUTTRELL

ALLEN ROAD-CR14

REID ROAD-CR 23

DANVILLE ROAD-CR30

MIAMI TRACERD-CR47

STAUNTON JASPER RD

MILL-OCTA RD-CR 85

MCKILLIP RD-TR100

POST RD-CR 123

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