County profile · official public datasets

Ross County, OH

356 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.6% rated Good, 50.6% Fair, 7.9% Poor.

356
Public bridges: 41.6%
Good condition: 7.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ross County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

69th
of 88 on Poor share: 7.9%
Poor-condition share: 356
public highway bridges: 1964
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.

Ross County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ross County ranks #69 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.9%). Ross County, Ohio contains 356 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.6% are rated “Good,” 50.6% “Fair,” and 7.9% “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 Ross County

Good condition

41.6%

148 of 356 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.6%

180 of 356 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.9%

28 of 356 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#69 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

41.6% (148)

Fair

50.6% (180)

Poor

7.9% (28)

Ross County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,570 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 806 crossings a day against 4,068 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.

58.7% of Ross County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

209 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 41.6% 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 12% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR 772 over RALSTON RUN, built 1980, carries 2,704 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 22,570 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

33
1910s

7
1920s

14
1930s

32
1940s

21
1950s

31
1960s

37
1970s

51
1980s

27
1990s

58
2000s

34
2010s

8
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1964, 13 years older than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Ross County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1964 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 14 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ross 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
Richland County	356	65.2%	28.7%	6.2%	1984
Ross County (this page)	356	41.6%	50.6%	7.9%	1964
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 Ross 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 Ross 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 (1964 here).

Bergen County, NJ · avg 1964 · 577 bridges
Morris County, NJ · avg 1964 · 508 bridges
Baltimore city County, MD · avg 1964 · 374 bridges
Franklin County, MA · avg 1964 · 314 bridges

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

All 356 Good 148 Fair 180 Poor 28

Fair-condition bridges (180)

Sort:

Ross County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ross County's Poor-condition bridges carry 22,570 vehicle crossings a day

58.7% of Ross County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ross 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 (180)

US 23

US 23

US 35

US 35

USR 35

TWP RD 1070(ADENA)

U.S. ROUTE 35

SR 41

US 50

US 50

STATE ROUTE 159

STATE ROUTE 159

STATE ROUTE 159

SR 207

SR 327

SR 772

SR 772

RAPID FORGE ROAD

AUSTIN RD

LITTLE CREEK RD

WESTFALL RD

MAPLE GROVE RD.

US 23

USR 50

US 23

USR 35

USR35

US 35

US 35

US 23

US 35

US ROUTE 50

U.S. ROUTE 35

USR 23

SR 28

OLD ROUTE 35

HIGGENBOTHAM RD

POLK HOLLOW RD

SCHOOLEY STA RD

CHARLESTON PIKE

CHARLESTON PIKE

RITTENOUR RD

ORR RD

CO RD 550

YELLOWBUD RD

US 50

SR 41

SR 327

US 35

US 35

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