County profile · official public datasets

Hancock County, OH

357 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 72.3% rated Good, 26.3% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

357
Public bridges: 72.3%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hancock County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 16%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 357
public highway bridges: 1988
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.

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hancock County ranks #14 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Hancock County, Ohio contains 357 public highway bridges. Roughly 72.3% are rated “Good,” 26.3% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

357

Public highway bridges in Hancock County

Good condition

72.3%

258 of 357 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.3%

94 of 357 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

5 of 357 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#14 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 357 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

72.3% (258)

Fair

26.3% (94)

Poor

1.4% (5)

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,024 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,205 crossings a day against 3,186 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 357 of 357 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.4% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

105 of the 357 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 72.3% 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 78.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

HAN CO RD 180 over LYE CREEK, built 1967, carries 8,637 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 11,024 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

5
1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

17
1960s

53
1970s

36
1980s

31
1990s

70
2000s

90
2010s

37
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 90 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1988, 11 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Hancock County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1988 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 14 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hancock County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Muskingum County	363	58.1%	32%	9.9%	1969
Preble County	357	61.6%	27.5%	10.9%	1976
Hancock County (this page)	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	350	41.7%	49.1%	9.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (357 bridges here).

Mendocino County, CA · 357 bridges
Fayette County, IL · 357 bridges
Augusta County, VA · 357 bridges
Tazewell County, IL · 358 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1988 here).

Travis County, TX · avg 1988 · 1,544 bridges
Grant County, OK · avg 1988 · 476 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · avg 1988 · 442 bridges
Vernon County, MO · avg 1988 · 401 bridges

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

All 357 Good 258 Fair 94 Poor 5

All bridges (357)

Sort:

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 11,024 vehicle crossings a day

29.4% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 78.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hancock 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 (357)

BLA TWP RD 123

SR12 N MAIN STREET

EAG/UNI TWP RD 59

HAN CO RD 23

HAN CO RD 12

EAG TWP RD 60

HAN CO RD 236

ALL TWP RD 229

WAS TWP RD 218

MAR TWP RD 237

ORA TWP RD 29

ORA TWP RD 51

HAN CO RD 12

DEL TWP RD 149

CAS TWP RD 236

JAC TWP RD 168

MAD TWP RD 31

VAN TWP RD 30

MAD TWP RD 66

MAD TWP RD 66

HAN CO RD 33

EAST MAIN CROSS ST

INDEPENDENCE AVE

HOWARD STREET

LIB TWP RD 128

HAN CO RD 8

CR 99

USR 68

SR 330

HAN CO RD 11

PLE TWP RD 111

POR TWP RD 19

LIB TWP RD 89

POR TWP RD 137

HAN CO RD 169

HAN CO RD 226

ORA TWP RD 52

EAG TWP RD 49

UNI TWP RD 34

DEL TWP RD 154

DEL TWP RD 154

HAN CO RD 313

BLA TWP RD 53

ORA TWP RD 27

DEL TWP RD 151

WAS TWP RD 217

HAN CO RD 109

HAN CO RD 23

HAN CO RD 86

CR 180

Related