County profile · official public datasets

Sandusky County, OH

303 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 71% rated Good, 27.1% Fair, 2% Poor.

303
Public bridges: 71%
Good condition: 2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Sandusky County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 24%
lowest Poor share in state: 2%
Poor-condition share: 303
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Sandusky County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Sandusky County ranks #21 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2%). Sandusky County, Ohio contains 303 public highway bridges. Roughly 71% are rated “Good,” 27.1% “Fair,” and 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

303

Public highway bridges in Sandusky County

Good condition

71%

215 of 303 rated 7-9

Fair condition

27.1%

82 of 303 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6 of 303 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#21 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 303 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

71% (215)

Fair

27.1% (82)

Poor

2% (6)

Sandusky County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,276 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,046 crossings a day against 4,496 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 303 of 303 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.4% of Sandusky County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

177 of the 303 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 71% 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 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

TR 209 over SANDUSKY RIVER, built 1915, carries 2,227 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,276 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

91
1960s

52
1970s

33
1980s

30
1990s

42
2000s

31
2010s

9
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 91 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1974) matches the Ohio average (1977).

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Sandusky County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Sandusky County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Huron County	311	58.2%	33.8%	8%	1982
Belmont County	310	52.3%	42.6%	5.2%	1982
Athens County	309	54%	39.2%	6.8%	1975
Washington County	309	61.2%	32.4%	6.5%	1974
Ashtabula County	305	72.5%	23.9%	3.6%	1967
Sandusky County (this page)	303	71%	27.1%	2%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (303 bridges here).

Pottawatomie County, KS · 303 bridges
Callaway County, MO · 303 bridges
Custer County, NE · 303 bridges
Prince William County, VA · 303 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside OH (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Pierce County, WA · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 303 Good 215 Fair 82 Poor 6

All bridges (303)

Sort:

Sandusky County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Sandusky County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,276 vehicle crossings a day

58.4% of Sandusky County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Sandusky 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

All bridges (303)

TR 72

SR 523

TR 23

USR 6

SR 590

SR 19

SR 53

COPP RD

STATE STREET

SR 412

SR 635

SR 635

COUNTY ROAD 232

SR 510

TOWNSHIP LINE RD

SHIETS RD

JACOBS RD

KARBLER DR

CR 65

SHANON RD

USR 6

USR 6

USR 6

SR 19

USR 20

USR 20

USR 20

USR 20

SR 412

I80 OH TPK

SR590

FOUGHT RD

CARLEY RD

GIBBS RD

I80 OH TPK

MUGG RD

COUNTY ROAD 119

COUNTY ROAD 166

CR 1

TOWNSHIP ROAD 237

TOWNSHIP ROAD 302

CR 106

TR 55

TR 62

COUNTRYSIDE DRIVE

WEST MAPLE ST

FOUR MILE HOUSE RD

I80 OH TPK

I80 OH TPK

I80 OH TPK

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