County profile · official public datasets

Union County, OH

221 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.8% rated Good, 29.9% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

221
Public bridges: 68.8%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Union County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 15%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 221
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #13 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Union County, Ohio contains 221 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.8% are rated “Good,” 29.9% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

221

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

68.8%

152 of 221 rated 7-9

Fair condition

29.9%

66 of 221 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

3 of 221 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 221 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

68.8% (152)

Fair

29.9% (66)

Poor

1.4% (3)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,443 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 481 crossings a day against 4,205 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 221 of 221 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.6% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 221 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 68.8% 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 38.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

CR 36 (BG Rd) over US 33, built 1968, carries 562 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,443 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

2
1900s

1
1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

4
1950s

8
1960s

39
1970s

37
1980s

36
1990s

23
2000s

33
2010s

30
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 39 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 7 years newer than the Ohio average of 1977.

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

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% 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 Union County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Erie County	225	66.7%	32.9%	0.4%	1977
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 (this page)	221	68.8%	29.9%	1.4%	1984
Portage County	217	51.2%	39.6%	9.2%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (221 bridges here).

Polk County, AR · 221 bridges
Daviess County, IN · 221 bridges
Beauregard County, LA · 221 bridges
Hot Spring County, AR · 222 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 221 Good 152 Fair 66 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (66)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,443 vehicle crossings a day

37.6% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 38.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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 (66)

CR 114 A WALDO RD

CR 33 B TAYLOR RD

C311B TREATY LINE

TR 69 B ORCHARD RD

CR 78 D COLLINS RD

C200D BEHLEHM-CLAI

C163B INSKEEP-CRTY

C129D WOLFRD MSKIL

SR 739

USR 33

TR82 WINGET RD

SR 736

SR 47

SR 37

S.R. 739

CR 193 D KAISER RD

SR 47

US 33

US 33

USR 36

S.R. 38

C36B BEECHER-GMBL

US 33

US 36

SR 38

SR 161

SR-4

SR 31

US 33

SR 37

SR 161

S.R. 245

SR 736

TR 540A CORP BLVD

C21 LAFAYET PL CTY

TR 70 A BOERGER RD

C107F SPRINGDALE

C107A SPRINGDALE

C93C SMART-COLE RD

C134F PAVER BARNES

C136D DOG LEG RD

TR146A BUCK RUN RD

C213B FORD REED RD

C262F KINNEY PIKE

C289B PWDR LICK RD

CR292B JANUARY RD

C163B INSKEEP-CRTY

C149A BEAR SWAMP

CR222 C YEARS

USR 42

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