County profile · official public datasets

Williams County, OH

242 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 52.5% rated Good, 45% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

242
Public bridges: 52.5%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Williams County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 33%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 242
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.

Williams County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Williams County ranks #29 of 88 Ohio counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Williams County, Ohio contains 242 public highway bridges. Roughly 52.5% are rated “Good,” 45% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

242

Public highway bridges in Williams County

Good condition

52.5%

127 of 242 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45%

109 of 242 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

6 of 242 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#29 of 88

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

Condition distribution

Share of 242 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

52.5% (127)

Fair

45% (109)

Poor

2.5% (6)

Williams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,687 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,781 crossings a day against 1,582 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 242 of 242 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.4% of Williams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

134 of the 242 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 52.5% 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 66.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SR15/USR 20A over I80 OHIO TPK, built 1954, carries 7,090 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 10,687 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

1
1920s

6
1930s

4
1940s

7
1950s

57
1960s

42
1970s

35
1980s

16
1990s

33
2000s

19
2010s

17
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.6% 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 Williams County compares with Ohio's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Ohio counties nearest Williams County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Williams County and the 5 Ohio counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Highland County	245	69.8%	28.2%	2%	1985
Pike County	245	65.7%	27.8%	6.5%	1988
Williams County (this page)	242	52.5%	45%	2.5%	1974
Fayette County	241	60.2%	39%	0.8%	1979
Gallia County	237	38.4%	56.1%	5.5%	1973
Wyandot County	236	71.2%	27.1%	1.7%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside OH (242 bridges here).

Glenn County, CA · 242 bridges
Macoupin County, IL · 242 bridges
Wabaunsee County, KS · 242 bridges
Tuscola County, MI · 242 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 242 Good 127 Fair 109 Poor 6

Good-condition bridges (127)

Sort:

Williams County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Williams County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,687 vehicle crossings a day

55.4% of Williams County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 66.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Williams 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 (127)

CR 4 (25)

CR 25 (13)

TR 30 (S)

CR 49 (16)

TR 91 (8)

TR 181 (F)

CR 17 (M.50)

TR 30 (S)

CR 49 (16)

CR 81 (Q.50)

TR 92 (9)

CR 180 (13)

CR 98 (N)

CR 27 (G)

TR 66 (B.50)

SR 576

CR 17 (M.50)

CR 36 (D)

CR 19 (10)

CR 98 (N.30)

CR 19 (10)

SR 107

CR 128 (8)

TR 41 (I)

TR 198 (F.75)

TR 94 (11.50)

CR 50 (S)

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