County profile · official public datasets

Richland County, OH

356 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.2% rated Good, 28.7% Fair, 6.2% Poor.

356
Public bridges: 65.2%
Good condition: 6.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Richland 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.

58th
of 88 on Poor share: 6.2%
Poor-condition share: 356
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Richland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Richland County ranks #58 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.2%). Richland County, Ohio contains 356 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.2% are rated “Good,” 28.7% “Fair,” and 6.2% “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

356

Public highway bridges in Richland County

Good condition

65.2%

232 of 356 rated 7-9

Fair condition

28.7%

102 of 356 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.2%

22 of 356 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#58 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 356 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.2% (232)

Fair

28.7% (102)

Poor

6.2% (22)

Richland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,179 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 645 crossings a day against 5,311 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 356 of 356 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

33.7% of Richland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

120 of the 356 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 65.2% 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 14.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 96 over WHETSTONE CREEK, built 1981, carries 2,099 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 22-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 14,179 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1910s

3
1920s

3
1930s

13
1940s

8
1950s

34
1960s

38
1970s

38
1980s

41
1990s

55
2000s

59
2010s

43
2020s

16

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 59 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 7 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Richland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.2% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Richland County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Muskingum County	363	58.1%	32%	9.9%	1969
Hancock County	357	72.3%	26.3%	1.4%	1988
Preble County	357	61.6%	27.5%	10.9%	1976
Ross County	356	41.6%	50.6%	7.9%	1964
Richland County (this page)	356	65.2%	28.7%	6.2%	1984
Guernsey County	350	41.7%	49.1%	9.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (356 bridges here).

Burlington County, NJ · 356 bridges
Northampton County, PA · 356 bridges
Mendocino County, CA · 357 bridges
Fayette County, IL · 357 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 356 Good 232 Fair 102 Poor 22

Good-condition bridges (232)

Sort:

Richland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Richland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 14,179 vehicle crossings a day

33.7% of Richland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 14.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Richland 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 (232)

SMART ROAD

GEISINGER ROAD

BUTLER NEWVILLE RD

ORANGE STREET

BOWMAN STREET

WHITNEY AVENUE

SR 545

SR 96

USR 30

IR 71

IR 71

SR 603

Pleasant Valley Rd

PITTENGER RD

PAVONIA EAST RD.

AMOY GANGES RD.

ST. JAMES RD.

OLIVESBURG-FITCHVL

ECKERT RD.

MENGERT RD.

KINGS CORNERS WEST

Eby Rd.

BOWMAN STREET

TRIMBLE ROAD

SR 95

GANGES FIVE PTS RD

SR39

SR 39

ROAD AROUND LAKE

SR 13

SR 13

TUCKER RD

SR 13

IR 71

IR 71

Kuhn Rd

Millsboro West Rd.

Finnegan Rd.

ORWEILER ROAD

POSSUM RUN RD.

COCKLEY RD.

IR 71

IR 71

IR 71

IR 71

HOME ROAD

VANTILBURG RD.

MT. ZION RD.

SHAUCK ROAD

BELVILLE-JOHNSVILL

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