County profile · official public datasets

Guernsey County, OH

350 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.7% rated Good, 49.1% Fair, 9.1% Poor.

350
Public bridges: 41.7%
Good condition: 9.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

78th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.1%
Poor-condition share: 350
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Guernsey County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Guernsey County ranks #78 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.1%). Guernsey County, Ohio contains 350 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.7% are rated “Good,” 49.1% “Fair,” and 9.1% “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

350

Public highway bridges in Guernsey County

Good condition

41.7%

146 of 350 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.1%

172 of 350 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.1%

32 of 350 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#78 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 350 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.7% (146)

Fair

49.1% (172)

Poor

9.1% (32)

Guernsey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,635 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 537 crossings a day against 3,686 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 349 of 350 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.4% of Guernsey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

194 of the 350 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 41.7% 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 40.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY RD 35 over LEATHERWOOD CREEK, built 1965, carries 6,684 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 32-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 16,635 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

4
1900s

2
1910s

2
1920s

6
1930s

16
1940s

15
1950s

24
1960s

116
1970s

13
1980s

13
1990s

59
2000s

49
2010s

30
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 116 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1975) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Guernsey County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 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 Guernsey County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hancock County	357	72.3%	26.3%	1.4%	1988
Richland County	356	65.2%	28.7%	6.2%	1984
Ross County	356	41.6%	50.6%	7.9%	1964
Guernsey County (this page)	350	41.7%	49.1%	9.1%	1975
Mahoning County	348	56.6%	38.5%	4.9%	1967
Greene County	344	67.4%	29.7%	2.9%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (350 bridges here).

Parker County, TX · 350 bridges
Weakley County, TN · 351 bridges
Labette County, KS · 349 bridges
Wilkes County, NC · 349 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 350 Good 146 Fair 172 Poor 32

Good-condition bridges (146)

Sort:

Guernsey County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Guernsey County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,635 vehicle crossings a day

55.4% of Guernsey County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 40.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Guernsey 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 (146)

TOWNSHIP RD.344

COUNTY ROAD 943

COUNTY ROAD 781

COUNTY RD 73

TWP ROAD 381

TR 6783

C453 BUFFALO MINE

TOWNSHIP RD. 586

TWP. RD. 671

MORTON AVENUE

COUNTY ROAD 947

COUNTY RD 585

TR 949

TOWNSHIP ROAD 127

COUNTY ROAD 86

TOWNSHIP ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 616

CR 430

TOWNSHIP ROAD 161

SR 265

TOWNSHIP RD 347

SR 285

SR 146 AND SR 821

SR146

WEST BOUND I-70

SR 209

EAST BOUND I-70

US 22

US 22

I-70 EAST BOUND

SOUTH BOUND I-77

NORTH BOUND I-77

SR 209

TOWNSHIP ROAD 781

TOWNSHIP ROAD 19

MC COY RD

SR 313

SR 146

SR 313

SR 146

NORTH BOUND I-77

SOUTH BOUND I-77

NORTH BOUND I-77

SR 285

CR 33 8th Street R

County Road 140

CR 25 Walhonding R

CR 215 CLOVER RD

TOWNSHIP RD 361

CR 33

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