Total bridges
375
Public highway bridges in Bureau County
County profile · official public datasets
Bureau County, IL
375 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.3% rated Good, 43.5% Fair, 15.2% Poor.
- 375
- Public bridges
- 41.3%
- Good condition
- 15.2%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Bureau County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 92nd
- of 102 on Poor share
- 15.2%
- Poor-condition share
- 375
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
Bureau County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bureau County ranks #92 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.2%). Bureau County, Illinois contains 375 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.3% are rated “Good,” 43.5% “Fair,” and 15.2% “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.
Good condition
41.3%
155 of 375 rated 7-9
Fair condition
43.5%
163 of 375 rated 5-6
Poor condition
15.2%
57 of 375 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#92 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 375 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.3% (155)
Fair 43.5% (163)
Poor 15.2% (57)
Bureau County's Poor-condition bridges carry 16,140 vehicle crossings a day
That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 283 crossings a day against 1,875 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 374 of 375 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
43.5% of Bureau County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
163 of the 375 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 41.3% 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 14.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
IL 40 FAP 646 over I-80, built 1963, carries 2,400 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 57-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 16,140 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Bureau County's bridges were built
375 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 2
Built before 1900
2 bridges
- 1900s 3
1900–1909
3 bridges
- 1910s 7
1910–1919
7 bridges
- 1920s 10
1920–1929
10 bridges
- 1930s 14
1930–1939
14 bridges
- 1940s 10
1940–1949
10 bridges
- 1950s 19
1950–1959
19 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
91 bridges
- 1970s 23
1970–1979
23 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
58 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
49 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
37 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
42 bridges
- 2020s 10
2020–2029
10 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 91 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Illinois average (1979).
How Bureau County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Illinois counties nearest Bureau County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.2% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ogle County | 377 | 46.2% | 46.2% | 7.7% | 1981 |
| Bureau County (this page) | 375 | 41.3% | 43.5% | 15.2% | 1978 |
| Lee County | 371 | 39.9% | 48% | 12.1% | 1980 |
| Tazewell County | 358 | 25.4% | 60.1% | 14.5% | 1976 |
| Fayette County | 357 | 56.6% | 38.4% | 5% | 1976 |
| Peoria County | 352 | 24.1% | 57.7% | 18.2% | 1983 |
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 Bureau 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 Bureau County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IL (375 bridges here).
- Dickinson County, KS · 375 bridges
- Scioto County, OH · 376 bridges
- Benton County, IA · 374 bridges
- Baltimore city County, MD · 374 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Buncombe County, NC · avg 1978 · 555 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (57)
IL 40 FAP 646
PoorOver: I-80
3.5 MI. N OF BUDA, Bureau, IL
Built 1963 Load: 33.0 t ADT: 2,400
I-180 SB
PoorOver: BUREAU CREEK
1.2 M S JCT ILL 26, Bureau, IL
Built 1968 Load: 36.3 t ADT: 2,075
CH 12
PoorOver: BUREAU CREEK
6.0 M NE OF PRINCTON, Bureau, IL
Built 1977 Load: 39.2 t ADT: 75
IL 40 FAP 646
PoorOver: BN RR
SOUTH EDGE OF BUDA, Bureau, IL
Built 1982 Load: 41.1 t ADT: 1,100
I-180 SB
PoorOver: BOTTOM RD FAS 246
1.4 MI S JCT ILL26, Bureau, IL
Built 1968 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 2,075
IL 92 FAP 587
PoorOver: GREEN RIVER
1.4 MI W JCT ILL 40, Bureau, IL
Built 1958 Load: 46.7 t ADT: 600
IL 40 FAP 646
PoorOver: HENNEPIN CANAL
0.4 MI S JCT FAI 80, Bureau, IL
Built 1933 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 2,400
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
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.