County profile · official public datasets

Noble County, OH

208 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 45.2% rated Good, 47.6% Fair, 7.2% Poor.

208
Public bridges: 45.2%
Good condition: 7.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Noble 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.

66th
of 88 on Poor share: 7.2%
Poor-condition share: 208
public highway bridges: 1959
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.

Noble County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Noble County ranks #66 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.2%). Noble County, Ohio contains 208 public highway bridges. Roughly 45.2% are rated “Good,” 47.6% “Fair,” and 7.2% “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

208

Public highway bridges in Noble County

Good condition

45.2%

94 of 208 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.6%

99 of 208 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.2%

15 of 208 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 208 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

45.2% (94)

Fair

47.6% (99)

Poor

7.2% (15)

Noble County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,098 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 207 crossings a day against 2,346 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 208 of 208 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63% of Noble County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

131 of the 208 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 45.2% 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 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 513 over BEAVER FORK WILLS CREEK, built 1954, carries 690 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,098 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

52
1920s

1
1930s

7
1940s

10
1950s

12
1960s

48
1970s

5
1980s

6
1990s

31
2000s

16
2010s

19
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1900s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 115 to 124 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1959, 18 years older than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Noble County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1959 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 18 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Noble 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	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 (this page)	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 Noble 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 Noble County, both outside Ohio so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (208 bridges here).

Muscogee County, GA · 208 bridges
Posey County, IN · 208 bridges
Marshall County, KY · 208 bridges
Caldwell County, MO · 208 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1959 here).

Tulare County, CA · avg 1959 · 589 bridges
Barton County, KS · avg 1959 · 449 bridges
Nassau County, NY · avg 1959 · 328 bridges
Marion County, KS · avg 1959 · 324 bridges

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

All 208 Good 94 Fair 99 Poor 15

Fair-condition bridges (99)

Sort:

Noble County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Noble County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,098 vehicle crossings a day

63% of Noble County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 22.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Noble 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 (99)

IR 77

SR 340

COUNTY R0AD 46

COUNTY ROAD 25

COUNTY ROAD 20

TOWNSHIP ROAD 284

TOWNSHIP ROAD 76

COUNTY ROAD 4

IR 77

IR 77

IR 77

IR 77

IR 77

IR 77

SR 147

SR 821

COUNTY ROAD 2

COUNTY ROAD 52

T.R.181

TR 7A

TOWNSHIP ROAD 3

COUNTY ROAD 53

OLD INFIRMARY ROAD

COUNTY ROAD 21

TOWNSHIP ROAD 198

COUNTY ROAD 43

TOWNSHIP ROAD 15

TR 302

Ayers Ridge Road

TR199

TOWNSHIP ROAD 251

TOWNSHIP ROAD 303A

COUNTY ROAD 2

SR 78

IR 77

COUNTY ROAD 9

COUNTY ROAD 12

COUNTY ROAD 8

COUNTY ROAD 62

TOWNSHIP ROAD 5

TOWNSHIP ROAD 276

TOWNSHIP ROAD 434

TOWNSHIP ROAD 5

COUNTY ROAD 12

TOWNSHIP ROAD 138

TOWNSHIP ROAD 431

TOWNSHIP ROAD 543

TOWNSHIP ROAD 309

COUNTY ROAD 20

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