County profile · official public datasets

Paulding County, OH

176 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 69.3% rated Good, 24.4% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

176
Public bridges: 69.3%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Paulding 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.

59th
of 88 on Poor share: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 176
public highway bridges: 1986
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.

Paulding County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Paulding County ranks #59 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Paulding County, Ohio contains 176 public highway bridges. Roughly 69.3% are rated “Good,” 24.4% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

176

Public highway bridges in Paulding County

Good condition

69.3%

122 of 176 rated 7-9

Fair condition

24.4%

43 of 176 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

11 of 176 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#59 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 176 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

69.3% (122)

Fair

24.4% (43)

Poor

6.3% (11)

Paulding County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,204 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 200 crossings a day against 1,116 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 176 of 176 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

19.3% of Paulding County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

34 of the 176 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 69.3% 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

TOWNSHIP ROAD 21 over SOUTH CREEK, built 1940, carries 659 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 2,204 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

3
1920s

1
1940s

4
1950s

8
1960s

8
1970s

22
1980s

37
1990s

50
2000s

28
2010s

6
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1986, 9 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Paulding County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1986 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 12 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Paulding County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Coshocton County	186	46.8%	42.5%	10.8%	1984
Adams County	184	42.9%	52.2%	4.9%	1974
Vinton County	179	50.3%	41.3%	8.4%	1977
Paulding County (this page)	176	69.3%	24.4%	6.3%	1986
Perry County	175	66.9%	31.4%	1.7%	1974
Monroe County	167	42.5%	47.3%	10.2%	1963

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (176 bridges here).

Des Moines County, IA · 176 bridges
Perry County, KY · 176 bridges
Winston County, MS · 176 bridges
Spink County, SD · 176 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1986 here).

El Paso County, TX · avg 1986 · 783 bridges
Caddo County, LA · avg 1986 · 682 bridges
Weld County, CO · avg 1986 · 614 bridges
Polk County, IA · avg 1986 · 545 bridges

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

All 176 Good 122 Fair 43 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (43)

Sort:

Paulding County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Paulding County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,204 vehicle crossings a day

19.3% of Paulding County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Paulding 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 (43)

TOWNSHIP ROAD 71

SR 114

COUNTY ROAD 1

SR 66

SR 114

TOWNSHIP ROAD 32

COUNTY ROAD 12

SR 111

SR 637 MAIN ST

COUNTY ROAD 107

COUNTY ROAD 60

TOWNSHIP ROAD 137

COUNTY ROAD 1

COUNTY ROAD 123

COUNTY ROAD 111

TOWNSHIP ROAD 51

TOWNSHIP ROAD 163

SR 49

COUNTY ROAD 73

SR 114

TOWNSHIP ROAD 153

COUNTY ROAD 165

Township Road 72

TOWNSHIP ROAD 197

TOWNSHIP ROAD 33

TOWNSHIP ROAD 96

TOWNSHIP ROAD 95

COUNTY ROAD 45

SR 49

COUNTY ROAD 180

COUNTY ROAD 107

COUNTY ROAD 177

COUNTY ROAD 123

TOWNSHIP ROAD 131

COUNTY ROAD 123

TOWNSHIP ROAD 163

TOWNSHIP ROAD 8

TOWNSHIP ROAD 165

TOWNSHIP ROAD 61

TOWNSHIP ROAD 105

COUNTY ROAD 133

TOWNSHIP ROAD 139

COUNTY ROAD 176

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