County profile · official public datasets

Champaign County, IL

727 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 58.9% rated Good, 32.5% Fair, 8.7% Poor.

727
Public bridges: 58.9%
Good condition: 8.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

65th
of 102 on Poor share: 8.7%
Poor-condition share: 727
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Champaign County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Champaign County ranks #65 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.7%). Champaign County, Illinois contains 727 public highway bridges. Roughly 58.9% are rated “Good,” 32.5% “Fair,” and 8.7% “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

727

Public highway bridges in Champaign County

Good condition

58.9%

428 of 727 rated 7-9

Fair condition

32.5%

236 of 727 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.7%

63 of 727 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#65 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 727 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

58.9% (428)

Fair

32.5% (236)

Poor

8.7% (63)

Champaign County's Poor-condition bridges carry 179,635 vehicle crossings a day

That is 10.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,851 crossings a day against 1,460 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 724 of 727 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

30.4% of Champaign County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

221 of the 727 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 58.9% 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 23.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-74 over US 45(FAP 800), built 1956, carries 41,900 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 63-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 179,635 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

14
1920s

1
1930s

14
1940s

7
1950s

23
1960s

107
1970s

135
1980s

175
1990s

103
2000s

90
2010s

43
2020s

15

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 175 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Champaign County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.7% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Champaign County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Champaign County (this page)	727	58.9%	32.5%	8.7%	1982
Will County	649	43.1%	46.4%	10.5%	1983
McLean County	624	60.9%	36.2%	2.9%	1981
Livingston County	579	51.8%	39.9%	8.3%	1978
Iroquois County	570	46.5%	39.1%	14.4%	1980
LaSalle County	528	39.4%	48.3%	12.3%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (727 bridges here).

Pulaski County, AR · 721 bridges
Guilford County, NC · 736 bridges
Pinal County, AZ · 716 bridges
Sacramento County, CA · 740 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Broward County, FL · avg 1982 · 686 bridges

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

All 727 Good 428 Fair 236 Poor 63

Good-condition bridges (428)

Sort:

Champaign County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Champaign County's Poor-condition bridges carry 179,635 vehicle crossings a day

30.4% of Champaign County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Champaign County compares with Illinois'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 (428)

TR 152

TR 69

TR 295 B

TR 160

TR 75

TR 78

TR 283

TR 283

TR 295 B

TR 255

TR 252 A

TR 252 A

TR 304

TR 56

TR 281

TR 217

TR 217

TR 249 B

TR 256

TR 181 A

FAU 7147

TR 220

TR 307 A

TR 312

TR 45

TR 265 B

TR 252 A

TR 258

TR 170

TR 218 C

TR 183

TR 113 B

TR 281

TR 138

TR 230

TR 25

TR 77

TR 77

TR 265

TR 213

TR 334

TR 4

TR 307 A

TR 178

TR 197

TR 121 A

TR 109

TR 204 A

TR 320

TR 234 A

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