County profile · official public datasets

Monroe County, OH

167 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 42.5% rated Good, 47.3% Fair, 10.2% Poor.

167
Public bridges: 42.5%
Good condition: 10.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Monroe 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.

84th
of 88 on Poor share: 10.2%
Poor-condition share: 167
public highway bridges: 1963
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.

Monroe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Monroe County ranks #84 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.2%). Monroe County, Ohio contains 167 public highway bridges. Roughly 42.5% are rated “Good,” 47.3% “Fair,” and 10.2% “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.

Total bridges

167

Public highway bridges in Monroe County

Good condition

42.5%

71 of 167 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.3%

79 of 167 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.2%

17 of 167 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#84 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 167 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

42.5% (71)

Fair

47.3% (79)

Poor

10.2% (17)

Monroe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,528 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 149 crossings a day against 750 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 167 of 167 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.9% of Monroe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 167 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 42.5% 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 22.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 379 over WILLS CREEK, built 1961, carries 560 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 2,528 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

43
1910s

1
1920s

3
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

14
1960s

10
1970s

4
1980s

7
1990s

20
2000s

21
2010s

27
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1900s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 115 to 124 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1963, 14 years older than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Monroe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1963 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 14 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Monroe County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Paulding County	176	69.3%	24.4%	6.3%	1986
Perry County	175	66.9%	31.4%	1.7%	1974
Monroe County (this page)	167	42.5%	47.3%	10.2%	1963
Morgan County	159	52.8%	43.4%	3.8%	1962
Defiance County	158	77.8%	20.9%	1.3%	1991
Ottawa County	158	65.8%	32.9%	1.3%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (167 bridges here).

Cherokee County, AL · 167 bridges
Garfield County, CO · 167 bridges
Mitchell County, IA · 167 bridges
Ness County, KS · 167 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1963 here).

Worcester County, MA · avg 1963 · 1,014 bridges
Honolulu County, HI · avg 1963 · 682 bridges
Chester County, PA · avg 1963 · 680 bridges
Essex County, NJ · avg 1963 · 505 bridges

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

All 167 Good 71 Fair 79 Poor 17

Fair-condition bridges (79)

Sort:

Monroe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Monroe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,528 vehicle crossings a day

50.9% of Monroe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Monroe 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 (79)

TWP RD 636

SALEM TWP 2214

TWP RD 152

CR 40 PLAINVIEW RD

TWP RD 203

SEN TWP 15

TWP RD 307

JACKSON TWP. 541

MARKET STREET

C29 Sunfish Cr Rd

SUMMIT TWP 831

SR 78

TOWNSHIP ROAD 2503

SR 78

SR 255

SR 536

BENTON TWP 526

CR 77 TOWN FORK

CR 16B

TWP RD 156

TWP RD 575

SR 78

LEE TWP. RD. 495

TR 691

WITTEN CREEK RD

TWP RD 520

SR 26

SR 78

TR 2784

SR 145

BARNES RUN RD

COUNTY ROAD 10

TWP RD 307

TOWNSHIP ROAD 2504

SR 537

CR 12 TRAIL RUN

TWP RD 319

LEE T476

SR 7

SR 7

SR 7

SR 26

SR 78

SR 78

SR 260

SR 260

SR 260

SR 537

SR 800

SR 800

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