County profile · official public datasets

Lorain County, OH

366 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 53.8% rated Good, 40.7% Fair, 5.5% Poor.

366
Public bridges: 53.8%
Good condition: 5.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

54th
of 88 on Poor share: 5.5%
Poor-condition share: 366
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.

Lorain County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lorain County ranks #54 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.5%). Lorain County, Ohio contains 366 public highway bridges. Roughly 53.8% are rated “Good,” 40.7% “Fair,” and 5.5% “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

366

Public highway bridges in Lorain County

Good condition

53.8%

197 of 366 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.7%

149 of 366 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.5%

20 of 366 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#54 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 366 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

53.8% (197)

Fair

40.7% (149)

Poor

5.5% (20)

Lorain County's Poor-condition bridges carry 65,202 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,260 crossings a day against 10,065 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 366 of 366 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53.6% of Lorain County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

196 of the 366 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 53.8% 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 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 58 over BRANCH OF BEAVER CREEK, built 1965, carries 19,498 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 65,202 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

23
1910s

7
1920s

5
1930s

23
1940s

3
1950s

60
1960s

39
1970s

55
1980s

20
1990s

39
2000s

25
2010s

56
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 60 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1973) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Lorain County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.5% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Lorain County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Scioto County	376	65.7%	29.3%	5.1%	1984
Allen County	367	67.6%	22.6%	9.8%	1982
Lorain County (this page)	366	53.8%	40.7%	5.5%	1973
Muskingum County	363	58.1%	32%	9.9%	1969
Hancock County	357	72.3%	26.3%	1.4%	1988
Preble County	357	61.6%	27.5%	10.9%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (366 bridges here).

Osage County, OK · 366 bridges
Clackamas County, OR · 367 bridges
Centre County, PA · 367 bridges
Olmsted County, MN · 365 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 366 Good 197 Fair 149 Poor 20

Good-condition bridges (197)

Sort:

Lorain County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lorain County's Poor-condition bridges carry 65,202 vehicle crossings a day

53.6% of Lorain County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lorain 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 (197)

SR 18

IR 90

SR 254

Snell Rd

DURKEE RD.

Hughes Rd

Oberlin Rd

SR83

TPK EXIT 145 RAMP

GULF RD

IR 90

IR 90

IR 90

IR 90

TPK EXIT 142 RAMP

JONES RD. T-5

OBERLIN ROAD

CYPRESS AVENUE

RECREATION LANE

SR 2

SR 2

USR 20

IR 90

CR 17 GULF ROAD

GoreOrphanage Road

Folley Rd

Root Rd

Oberlin Rd

WEST RIVER RD

IR 90

SR 511

Vermont Street

BRIDGE POINT TRAIL

SR 2

USR 6

IR 90

SR 511

TWP1394 BLANCHE AV

THIRD STREET

Peck Wadsworth Rd

IR 90

Nickel Plate Diago

QUARRY RIDGE ROAD

SHADOW CREEK DR

N. Ridge Rd

West Rd

MOORE ROAD

Related