Total bridges
356
Public highway bridges in Richland County
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.
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.
When Richland County's bridges were built
356 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 5
1900–1909
5 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s 3
1920–1929
3 bridges
- 1930s 13
1930–1939
13 bridges
- 1940s 8
1940–1949
8 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
34 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
38 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
38 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
41 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
55 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
59 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
43 bridges
- 2020s 16
2020–2029
16 bridges
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.
| 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 bridges (356)
LINN RD.
PoorOver: BRUBAKER CREEK
0.1MI W.OF ERNSBERGER RD., Richland, OH
Built 1936 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 385
WILGING RD
PoorOver: STREAM
0.1MI W OF OLD BROWN ST., Richland, OH
Built 1936 Load: 29.2 t ADT: 10
POTH ROAD
PoorOver: UNNAMED DITCH
0.7MI E OF SR 39, Richland, OH
Built 1976 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 291
SPRINGMILL WEST
PoorOver: BLACK FORK MOHICAN RIVER
0.7 MI E OF ROCK RD, Richland, OH
Built 1967 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 477
ELM STREET
PoorOver: SMOKEY RUN
60 FT WEST OF SR 95, Richland, OH
Built 1965 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 200
FRANKLIN CHURCH RD
PoorOver: EAST FORK BRUBAKER CREEK
0.7M. N OF SR 545, Richland, OH
Built 1982 Load: 45.4 t ADT: 477
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.