County profile · official public datasets

Ottawa County, OH

158 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.8% rated Good, 32.9% Fair, 1.3% Poor.

158
Public bridges: 65.8%
Good condition: 1.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ottawa County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 14%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.3%
Poor-condition share: 158
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.

Ottawa County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ottawa County ranks #12 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.3%). Ottawa County, Ohio contains 158 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.8% are rated “Good,” 32.9% “Fair,” and 1.3% “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

158

Public highway bridges in Ottawa County

Good condition

65.8%

104 of 158 rated 7-9

Fair condition

32.9%

52 of 158 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.3%

2 of 158 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#12 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 158 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.8% (104)

Fair

32.9% (52)

Poor

1.3% (2)

Ottawa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 787 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 394 crossings a day against 2,551 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 158 of 158 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62% of Ottawa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 158 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 65.8% 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 55.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WEST NINETH STREET over PACKER CREEK, built 1958, carries 436 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 787 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1930s

11
1940s

6
1950s

45
1960s

29
1970s

10
1980s

9
1990s

19
2000s

8
2010s

10
2020s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 45 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.5% 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 Ottawa County compares with Ohio's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Ottawa County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ottawa County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Perry County	175	66.9%	31.4%	1.7%	1974
Monroe County	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 (this page)	158	65.8%	32.9%	1.3%	1973
Geauga County	141	64.5%	29.1%	6.4%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (158 bridges here).

Napa County, CA · 158 bridges
Wells County, IN · 158 bridges
Jackson County, MI · 158 bridges
Yalobusha County, MS · 158 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 158 Good 104 Fair 52 Poor 2

Good-condition bridges (104)

Sort:

Ottawa County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ottawa County's Poor-condition bridges carry 787 vehicle crossings a day

62% of Ottawa County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 55.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ottawa 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 (104)

SLEMMER-PORTAGE RD

WOODRICK RD

SCHULTZ-PORTAGE RD

MUDDY CREEK N RD

CURTICE E & W RD

SR 590

BILLMAN RD

OPFER-LENTZ RD

OPFER-LENTZ RD

LEMON RD

EXIT 81 RAMP

GRAYTOWN RD

LEUTZ RD

SR 2

SR 2

SR 19

DISHINGER RD

BOLSINGER RD

STANGE RD

GENOA-CLAY CENTER

HELLWIG RD

MOLINE-MARTIN RD

SR 105

FULTON ROAD

LIGHTNER RD.

LICKERT-HARDER RD

GENZMAN ROAD

GENOA-CLAY CENTER

SR 2

SR 19

SR 19

SR 269

SR 590

ODNR FISHING ACCES

ODNR FISHING ACCES

STANGE RD

MARTIN-WILLISTON

FULKERT RD

MUD CREEK RD

FOUR MILE HOUSE RD

BILLMAN RD

HARRIS-SALEM RD

SR 163

OPFER-LENTZ RD

SR 2

Ramp 2C

SR 590

Magee Marsh

ELLISTON-TROWBRIDG

YEASTING RD

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