Total bridges
245
Public highway bridges in Highland County
County profile · official public datasets
Highland County, OH
245 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.8% rated Good, 28.2% Fair, 2% Poor.
- 245
- Public bridges
- 69.8%
- Good condition
- 2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Highland 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 25%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 2%
- Poor-condition share
- 245
- public highway bridges
- 1985
- 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.
Highland County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Highland County ranks #22 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Highland County, Ohio contains 245 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.8% are rated “Good,” 28.2% “Fair,” and 2% “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.
Good condition
69.8%
171 of 245 rated 7-9
Fair condition
28.2%
69 of 245 rated 5-6
Poor condition
2%
5 of 245 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#22 of 88
Among Ohio counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 245 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 69.8% (171)
Fair 28.2% (69)
Poor 2% (5)
Highland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,521 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,904 crossings a day against 1,011 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 245 of 245 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
28.2% of Highland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
69 of the 245 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 69.8% 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 49.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 62 over CLEAR CREEK, built 1934, carries 7,161 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 14,521 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Highland County's bridges were built
245 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 2
1930–1939
2 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 18
1950–1959
18 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
21 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
52 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
43 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
51 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
25 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
24 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 8 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.
How Highland County compares with Ohio's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Ohio counties nearest Highland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 8 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 87 Ohio counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morrow County | 250 | 62% | 29.6% | 8.4% | 1978 |
| Lawrence County | 249 | 26.1% | 64.3% | 9.6% | 1966 |
| Pike County | 245 | 65.7% | 27.8% | 6.5% | 1988 |
| Highland County (this page) | 245 | 69.8% | 28.2% | 2% | 1985 |
| Williams County | 242 | 52.5% | 45% | 2.5% | 1974 |
| Fayette County | 241 | 60.2% | 39% | 0.8% | 1979 |
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 Highland 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 Highland County, both outside Ohio so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside OH (245 bridges here).
- Allegany County, MD · 245 bridges
- Henderson County, NC · 245 bridges
- Rowan County, NC · 245 bridges
- Grimes County, TX · 245 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1985 here).
- Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
- Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
- Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
- Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (5)
GIBLER RD #118
PoorOver: DODSON CREEK
SOUTH OF US.50 WEST, Highland, OH
Built 1950 Load: 0.0 t ADT: 28
SR 73
PoorOver: POLK CREEK
.35 MI E OF CLINTON CTY, Highland, OH
Built 1946 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 5,565
PANHANDLE RD #8
PoorOver: TURTLECREEK
NORTHEASTOFSTRTE124, Highland, OH
Built 1981 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 343
OHIO BRUSH CREEK
PoorOver: OHIO BRUSH CREEK
.35 MI E OF SR 785, Highland, OH
Built 1955 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,424
US 62
PoorOver: CLEAR CREEK
N CORP HILLSBORO, Highland, OH
Built 1934 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 7,161
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.