County profile · official public datasets

Lake County, OH

210 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.9% rated Good, 38.6% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

210
Public bridges: 52.9%
Good condition: 8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

76th
of 88 on Poor share: 8.6%
Poor-condition share: 210
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.

Lake County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lake County ranks #76 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Lake County, Ohio contains 210 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.9% are rated “Good,” 38.6% “Fair,” and 8.6% “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

210

Public highway bridges in Lake County

Good condition

52.9%

111 of 210 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.6%

81 of 210 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

18 of 210 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#76 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 210 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.9% (111)

Fair

38.6% (81)

Poor

8.6% (18)

Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 187,447 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 10,414 crossings a day against 13,513 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 210 of 210 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62.9% of Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

132 of the 210 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 52.9% 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 18.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 2 over EAST 337TH ST, built 1962, carries 34,896 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 187,447 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

7
1930s

4
1940s

1
1950s

17
1960s

102
1970s

5
1980s

9
1990s

18
2000s

29
2010s

12
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 102 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 48.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Lake County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lake County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Putnam County	213	54.9%	40.4%	4.7%	1982
Lake County (this page)	210	52.9%	38.6%	8.6%	1973
Clinton County	209	73.7%	24.4%	1.9%	1979
Holmes County	208	43.3%	53.8%	2.9%	1978
Noble County	208	45.2%	47.6%	7.2%	1959
Meigs County	207	45.4%	51.7%	2.9%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (210 bridges here).

Fulton County, IL · 210 bridges
Clinton County, IN · 210 bridges
Howard County, IA · 210 bridges
Montgomery County, IA · 210 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 210 Good 111 Fair 81 Poor 18

All bridges (210)

Sort:

Lake County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lake County's Poor-condition bridges carry 187,447 vehicle crossings a day

62.9% of Lake County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 18.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lake 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 (210)

SR 528

SR 615

CASCADE ROAD

CASCADE ROAD

PROUTY RD

SR 608

WILLIAMS RD

MARKELL ROAD

BATES RD

MIDDLE RIDGE ROAD

I-90

I-90

I-90SB OVER SR-174

SR 2

SR 2

FAY ROAD

PROUTY ROAD

WISNER ROAD

CURTIS BLVD

BROOKRIDGE LN

ST. CLAIR STREET

SR 91

I-90NB OVER SR-174

FAY ROAD

BLAIR ROAD

CHAPIN ROAD

SR 2

STOCKING ROAD

SR 86

BRENEL DRIVE

CONNECTICUT COLONY

RAVENNA ROAD

SPERRY ROAD

BOOTH ROAD

HENDRICKS RD

SR 283

HENDRICKS ROAD

HAYES BLVD

HEISLEY ROAD

MAIN STREET

REEVES ROAD

I-90

SR 2

SR 91

SR 2

SR 2

SR 2 WESTBOUND

SR 2 EASTBOUND

SR 2

SR 2

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