County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, OH

198 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.2% rated Good, 26.3% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

198
Public bridges: 65.2%
Good condition: 8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

77th
of 88 on Poor share: 8.6%
Poor-condition share: 198
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #77 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Madison County, Ohio contains 198 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.2% are rated “Good,” 26.3% “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

198

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

65.2%

129 of 198 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.3%

52 of 198 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

17 of 198 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#77 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 198 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.2% (129)

Fair

26.3% (52)

Poor

8.6% (17)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,949 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% 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 762 crossings a day against 4,093 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 198 of 198 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.5% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

92 of the 198 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 65.2% 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 25.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

COUNTY RD 7 over THREE MILE RUN, built 1920, carries 3,334 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,949 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

20
1960s

48
1970s

18
1980s

12
1990s

37
2000s

17
2010s

23
2020s

13

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 48 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1982, 5 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Madison 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 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Fulton County	198	48.5%	51.5%	0%	1970
Madison County (this page)	198	65.2%	26.3%	8.6%	1982
Champaign County	192	87.5%	11.5%	1%	1981

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (198 bridges here).

Scott County, AR · 198 bridges
Aiken County, SC · 198 bridges
Dorchester County, SC · 198 bridges
Erath County, TX · 198 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 198 Good 129 Fair 52 Poor 17

All bridges (198)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,949 vehicle crossings a day

46.5% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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 (198)

SR-56

SR 38

POTEE RD

SR 56

SR 00161

SR 323

LAFAYETTE PC RD

SR 38

SR 38

TAYLOR BLAIR RD

MIDDLE PIKE RD

GAY STREET

SR 665

SR 323

US 42

I-71

I-71

Big Plain Circlevi

SR 142

SR 323

SR 40

SR 42

SR 56

I-71 SB

I-71

I-71

SR 187

GUY CEMETERY RD

ROSE. PLAIN CITY

VAN WAGNER RD

FINLEY GUY RD

TAYLOR BLAIR RD.

Danville Rd

SR 56

OLMSTEAD RD

US 42

SR 38

I-71

US 40

I-70

COUNTY ROAD 15 A

COUNTY RD 11

SR 161

Linson Rd

ARBUCKLE RD.

BRAGG RD

COUNTY RD 83

NIOGA TOOPS RD

COUNTY RD 83

SPARLING RD

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