County profile · official public datasets

Portage County, OH

217 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 51.2% rated Good, 39.6% Fair, 9.2% Poor.

217
Public bridges: 51.2%
Good condition: 9.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Portage County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

79th
of 88 on Poor share: 9.2%
Poor-condition share: 217
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Portage County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Portage County ranks #79 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.2%). Portage County, Ohio contains 217 public highway bridges. Roughly 51.2% are rated “Good,” 39.6% “Fair,” and 9.2% “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

217

Public highway bridges in Portage County

Good condition

51.2%

111 of 217 rated 7-9

Fair condition

39.6%

86 of 217 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.2%

20 of 217 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#79 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 217 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

51.2% (111)

Fair

39.6% (86)

Poor

9.2% (20)

Portage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,054 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,453 crossings a day against 6,051 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 217 of 217 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

53% of Portage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

115 of the 217 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 51.2% 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 44.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

West Main Street over Cuyahoga River & CSXT RR, built 1876, carries 12,977 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 20-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 29,054 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1920s

1
1930s

6
1940s

12
1950s

38
1960s

50
1970s

18
1980s

14
1990s

27
2000s

20
2010s

26
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 50 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Portage County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Portage County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pickaway County	224	62.9%	34.8%	2.2%	1964
Brown County	223	62.8%	34.1%	3.1%	1974
Crawford County	221	74.2%	23.1%	2.7%	1981
Union County	221	68.8%	29.9%	1.4%	1984
Portage County (this page)	217	51.2%	39.6%	9.2%	1976
Putnam County	213	54.9%	40.4%	4.7%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (217 bridges here).

Sullivan County, IN · 217 bridges
Harrison County, IA · 217 bridges
Marion County, IA · 217 bridges
Ringgold County, IA · 217 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 217 Good 111 Fair 86 Poor 20

Fair-condition bridges (86)

Sort:

Portage County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Portage County's Poor-condition bridges carry 29,054 vehicle crossings a day

53% of Portage County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 44.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Portage 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 (86)

INDUSTRY RD

ROOTSTOWN RD

SR 305

SR 225

SR88

POWDER MILL ROAD

LAUBERT RD.

WATERLOO RD

CALVIN RD.

Knapp Road

PARKMAN RD

DIAGONAL RD

SR 43 SR 59

IR76 WB

IR 76

IR 76

SR 306/0.3 S of CL

HANKEE RD C H 224

MCCORMICK ROAD

Crackel Rd -TH176

Tallmadge Road

SR 5

SR14

SR14

SR14

SR 43

SR 59

WB IR 76

EB IR 76

CR52 (ROCK SPRING)

IR 76

SR 82

SR 88

SR 303

SR 305

W.B. SR 261

E.B. SR 261

NICHOLS RD

BECK RD

CABLE LINE RD

TALLMADGE RD.

OLD FORGE RD CH 82

WINCHELL ROAD

ROOTSTOWN RD

WAYLAND ROAD

PIONEER TRAIL

SR 43

IR 76

IR76

IR76

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