County profile · official public datasets

Alexander County, IL

93 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.9% rated Good, 64.5% Fair, 8.6% Poor.

93
Public bridges
26.9%
Good condition
8.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Alexander County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

63rd
of 102 on Poor share
8.6%
Poor-condition share
93
public highway bridges
1981
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.

Alexander County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Alexander County ranks #63 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.6%). Alexander County, Illinois contains 93 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.9% are rated “Good,” 64.5% “Fair,” and 8.6% “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

93

Public highway bridges in Alexander County

Good condition

26.9%

25 of 93 rated 7-9

Fair condition

64.5%

60 of 93 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.6%

8 of 93 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#63 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 93 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
26.9% (25)
Fair
64.5% (60)
Poor
8.6% (8)

Alexander County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,825 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,228 crossings a day against 706 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 93 of 93 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

31.2% of Alexander County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

29 of the 93 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 26.9% 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 35.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 60 & 62 over MISSISSIPPI R, built 1929, carries 3,450 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,825 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Alexander County's bridges were built

93 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1981) matches the Illinois average (1979).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

How Alexander County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Alexander County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.6% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Alexander County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Scott County 99 7.1%
Stark County 93 5.4%
Alexander County (this page) 93 8.6%
Menard County 89 10.1%
Wabash County 89 5.6%
Pope County 88 6.8%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (93 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1981 here).

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

All 93 Good 25 Fair 60 Poor 8

Good-condition bridges (25)

FAS 945

Good

Over: SEXTON CREEK

7 MI E OF MCCLURE, Alexander, IL

Built 1962 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 650

FAS 2943

Good

Over: BROWNSVILLE CREEK

NW1/4 SEC14 T15S R3W, Alexander, IL

Built 1960 Load: 30.5 t ADT: 100

TR 38A

Good

Over: SEXTON CREEK

2 MI NE OF GALE, Alexander, IL

Built 1971 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 125

TR 59-COLEMAN RD

Good

Over: JACKSON CREEK

1/4 MI NE OF TAMMS, Alexander, IL

Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 10

OLD DELTA RD

Good

Over: HARTLINE CREEK

1.5MI W IL 127, Alexander, IL

Built 1999 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

OLD DELTA RD

Good

Over: SEXTON CREEK

1.0 MI N OF CH 4, Alexander, IL

Built 2008 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

OLD DELTA RD

Good

Over: SEXTON CREEK

1.2MI N GRAPEVINE TR, Alexander, IL

Built 2015 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

WHITNEY HOLLOW RD

Good

Over: COOPER CREEK

0.10 MI S OF TR 3, Alexander, IL

Built 2010 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

TR 150A

Good

Over: TRIB TO JACKSON CK

1 MILE NORTH TAMMS, Alexander, IL

Built 1981 Load: 33.7 t ADT: 100

TR 46

Good

Over: BLACK CREEK TRIB

3 MI W OF OLIVE BRAN, Alexander, IL

Built 1994 Load: 36.0 t ADT: 25

FAS 941

Good

Over: HARTLINE CREEK

1.2 MI E OF ILL 127, Alexander, IL

Built 1980 Load: 36.6 t ADT: 800

TR 65 SCHLAMER RD

Good

Over: TRIB TO SAMMONS CR

SW1/4 SEC2 T15S R3W, Alexander, IL

Built 2003 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 25

ILL 146

Good

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

0.2 MI W ILL 3, Alexander, IL

Built 2011 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 8,550

TR 150

Good

Over: HARTLINE CREEK TRIB

ELCO, Alexander, IL

Built 1994 Load: 38.6 t ADT: 125

TR-40

Good

Over: ORCHARD CREEK

NE1/4 SEC27 T15S R3W, Alexander, IL

Built 2003 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 10

ILL 127

Good

Over: JACKSON CREEK

NEAR NCL OF TAMMS, Alexander, IL

Built 1990 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 1,150

TR 37

Good

Over: TRIB TO MILL CREEK

3 MI E OF ELCO, Alexander, IL

Built 1985 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 75

TR-44

Good

Over: TRIB TO CIRCLE DITCH

0.5 MI S TWENTE CR, Alexander, IL

Built 2013 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 100

TR 3 - COUNTY LINE

Good

Over: TRIB TO COOPER CR

0.75 MI W of IL 127, Alexander, IL

Built 2014 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 325

FAS 942

Good

Over: CACHE RIVER

ALEX/PULASKI CO LI, Alexander, IL

Built 2004 Load: 40.5 t ADT: 850

FAS 946

Good

Over: BLACK CREEK

1.3 MI S OLIVE BR, Alexander, IL

Built 1983 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 225

RIFLE RANGE RD

Good

Over: HARTLINE CREEK

0.5 MILE SE OF ELCO, Alexander, IL

Built 2008 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 10

MCKEE RD

Good

Over: MILLER CREEK

MCKEE RD, Alexander, IL

Built 2020 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 10

FAP 14-ILL 3-FH 9

Good

Over: SEXTON CREEK

GALE, Alexander, IL

Built 1990 Load: 43.4 t ADT: 3,600

ILL 127

Good

Over: COOPER CREEK

0.2 MI S UNION CO, Alexander, IL

Built 1984 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 675

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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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.