County profile · official public datasets

Lawrence County, OH

249 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.1% rated Good, 64.3% Fair, 9.6% Poor.

249
Public bridges: 26.1%
Good condition: 9.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lawrence County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

80th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.6%
Poor-condition share: 249
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lawrence County ranks #80 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.6%). Lawrence County, Ohio contains 249 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.1% are rated “Good,” 64.3% “Fair,” and 9.6% “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

249

Public highway bridges in Lawrence County

Good condition

26.1%

65 of 249 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.3%

160 of 249 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.6%

24 of 249 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#80 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 249 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.1% (65)

Fair

64.3% (160)

Poor

9.6% (24)

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,546 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 398 crossings a day against 4,856 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 249 of 249 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

127 of the 249 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 26.1% 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 93 over TRIB OF LITTLE PINE CREE, built 1979, carries 1,778 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,546 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

37
1910s

2
1920s

7
1930s

19
1940s

15
1950s

10
1960s

34
1970s

10
1980s

22
1990s

47
2000s

25
2010s

15
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 11 years older than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Lawrence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 15 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lawrence County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Medina County	252	60.3%	36.5%	3.2%	1981
Morrow County	250	62%	29.6%	8.4%	1978
Lawrence County (this page)	249	26.1%	64.3%	9.6%	1966
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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (249 bridges here).

Brevard County, FL · 249 bridges
Carroll County, IA · 249 bridges
Phillips County, KS · 249 bridges
Van Zandt County, TX · 249 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 249 Good 65 Fair 160 Poor 24

Fair-condition bridges (160)

Sort:

Lawrence County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lawrence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,546 vehicle crossings a day

51% of Lawrence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Lawrence 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

Fair-condition bridges (160)

NEDS FORK ROAD

FEDERAL CREEK RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD 110

ETNA WATERLOO ROAD

TOWNSHIP ROAD 191

RANKINS CREEK RD

TOWNSHIP ROAD 179

COUNTY ROAD 1

SLAB FORK ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 56

TOWNSHIP ROAD 191

3RD STREET

SR 141

TOWNSHIP ROAD 254S

US 52

SR 378

WOODLAND CEM ROAD

SR 243

SOLIDA ROAD

MCKINNEY CREEK RD

COUNTY ROAD 36

SLAB FORK ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 64

CHARLEY CREEK RD

STATE ROUTE 93

SR 522

SR 775

COUNTY ROAD 5

COUNTY ROAD 6

PORTER GAP ROAD

SWARTZ ROAD

NORTH 2ND STREET

CHARLEY CREEK RD

SR 652 / KY US-23S

US 52

CR 18

SR 141

SR 775

MCKINNEY CREEK RD

COUNTY ROAD 70

TOWNSHIP ROAD 179

HOG BACK ROAD

NORTH 2ND STREET

SR 652 / KY US-23S

US 52

SR 7

SR 775

USR 52

SR 522

BUCKEYE ROAD

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