County profile · official public datasets

Coles County, IL

304 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.5% rated Good, 51.6% Fair, 8.9% Poor.

304
Public bridges
39.5%
Good condition
8.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

66th
of 102 on Poor share
8.9%
Poor-condition share
304
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.

Coles County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Coles County ranks #66 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.9%). Coles County, Illinois contains 304 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.5% are rated “Good,” 51.6% “Fair,” and 8.9% “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

304

Public highway bridges in Coles County

Good condition

39.5%

120 of 304 rated 7-9

Fair condition

51.6%

157 of 304 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.9%

27 of 304 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#66 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 304 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
39.5% (120)
Fair
51.6% (157)
Poor
8.9% (27)

Coles County's Poor-condition bridges carry 38,185 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,414 crossings a day against 892 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 303 of 304 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.6% of Coles County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

90 of the 304 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 39.5% 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 25.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-57 (SB) over Central Grain RR & TR 86, built 1965, carries 9,900 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 27-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 38,185 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Coles County's bridges were built

304 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 95 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 31.3% 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 Coles County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Coles County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1981 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 Coles County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Franklin County 310 2.6%
Knox County 304 11.2%
Coles County (this page) 304 8.9%
Ford County 302 6.3%
Marion County 296 6.4%
Hancock County 292 20.2%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (304 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 304 Good 120 Fair 157 Poor 27

Good-condition bridges (120)

TR 23

Good

Over: STREAM

3 MI SW OAKLAND, Coles, IL

Built 1990 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 148

Good

Over: UNION DRAIN DIT #3

3 MI W CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 1993 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 100

TR 174

Good

Over: CASSELL CREEK

2 MI N CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 100

TR 4

Good

Over: CRABAPPLE CREEK

N EDGE OF COLES STA, Coles, IL

Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150

FAS 1673(CH 28)

Good

Over: RILEY CREEK

1.5 MI N OF LOXA, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,000

FAS 1673(CH 28)

Good

Over: STREAM

2.5 MI N OF LOXA, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 350

TR 61

Good

Over: STREAM

3.2 MI S OAKLAND, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 302

Good

Over: E BR HURRICANE CREEK

3.5 MI E OF HUTTON, Coles, IL

Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 43

Good

Over: DRY BRANCH

.5 MI N OF RARDIN, Coles, IL

Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR 4

Good

Over: WHITLEY CREEK

1 MI S OF COLES STA, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 300

TR 182

Good

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

7.5 MI N CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 1996 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 559

Good

Over: LOXA DRAINAGE DITCH

IN LOXA, Coles, IL

Built 1997 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 50

Good

Over: STREAM

S EDGE OF MATTOON, Coles, IL

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 1,300

TR 43

Good

Over: FLAT BRANCH

3.5 MI E OF HUMBOLDT, Coles, IL

Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR 318

Good

Over: HOG BRANCH

2 MI NE OF OAKLAND, Coles, IL

Built 1999 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR 276

Good

Over: POLECAT CREEK

2.2 MI SW OF ASHMORE, Coles, IL

Built 1995 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 175

FAS 1667(CH 19)

Good

Over: CLEAR CREEK

2.5 MI N OF TRILLA, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 750

TR 229 A

Good

Over: HURRICANE CREEK

1.75 MI NE OF HURRON, Coles, IL

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

TR 291

Good

Over: TRIB HURRICANE CREEK

3.2 MI SE OF HUTTON, Coles, IL

Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

FAS- 642C

Good

Over: TRIB TO RILEY CREEK

1.6 MI N OF LOXA, Coles, IL

Built 1999 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,450

TR 142

Good

Over: DRAINAGE DITCH

4 MI E OF HUMBOLDT, Coles, IL

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 7 B

Good

Over: DICKS CREEK

1 MI NE JOHNSTOWN, Coles, IL

Built 2000 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 175

TR 159 A

Good

Over: DUDLEY BRANCH

1.6 MI SE OF ASHMORE, Coles, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

TR 35

Good

Over: DONICA CREEK

3.1 MI SE OAKLAND, Coles, IL

Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

TR 37

Good

Over: STREAM

7.5 MI W HUMBOLT, Coles, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 90

Good

Over: MUDDY CREEK

1.8 MI NE TRILLA, Coles, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 272

Good

Over: W BR HURRICANE CR

2 MI NE OF HUTTON, Coles, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150

TR 60

Good

Over: CRABAPPLE CREEK

3.2 MI SE COOKS MILL, Coles, IL

Built 2007 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 375

TR 74

Good

Over: CRABAPPLE CREEK

.5 MI S DORANS, Coles, IL

Built 2003 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 200

FAS 642C

Good

Over: UNION DR. DIST. DITC

2.5 MI NW OF CHARLES, Coles, IL

Built 2012 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,450

FAS 642C

Good

Over: CASSEL CREEK

1.2 MI N CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,400

CH 18/FAS 642C

Good

Over: TRIB TO CASSEL CR

1 MI N CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,400

TR 166

Good

Over: KICKAPOO CREEK

1.5 MI SW CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 2009 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 325

TR 7B

Good

Over: TRIB TO CLEAR CR

0.5 MI E OF TRILLA, Coles, IL

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 350

TR 102

Good

Over: TRIB TO DARKIES CR

2.5 MI S OF LERNA, Coles, IL

Built 2008 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 250

TR 97

Good

Over: TRIBUTARY

2.5 MI SW COOKS MILL, Coles, IL

Built 2009 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 125

TR 16A

Good

Over: TRIB OF KASKASKIA RI

2 MI SW COOKS MILL, Coles, IL

Built 2010 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 125

CH 7

Good

Over: UNION DRAIN DT #3

2.8 MI W CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 2013 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 375

TR 282

Good

Over: STREAM

3.2 MI SE OF HUTTON, Coles, IL

Built 2012 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR 28

Good

Over: Brush Creek

0.5 Mi. S of Etna, Coles, IL

Built 2016 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 25

TR 137B

Good

Over: Polecat Creek

2.3 Mi. E Ashmore, Coles, IL

Built 2019 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

FAS 642C(CH 18)

Good

Over: GRASSY WATERWAY

1.5 M NE OF LANDFILL, Coles, IL

Built 2011 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,450

DOUGLAS ST(FAU 764

Good

Over: STREAM

CHARLESTON SW SIDE, Coles, IL

Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 750

FAU 7641("E" ST)

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH CREEK

CHARLESTON-MADISON, Coles, IL

Built 1994 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,000

REYNOLDS DR(MS 854

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH CREEK

W EDGE CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 1992 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 500

FAU 7643(4TH ST)

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH

CHARLESTON, Coles, IL

Built 2000 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 3,050

FAU 7698/9TH ST

Good

Over: KICKAPOO CREK

SO 9TH ST MATTOON, Coles, IL

Built 2008 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 4,100

FAU 7622-JACKSON S

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH CREEK

E OF DIVISION AVE, Coles, IL

Built 2007 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 300

FAS 1669

Good

Over: STREAM

7.42MI W OF ILL-130, Coles, IL

Built 2014 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 2,200

US 45(FAS 1671)

Good

Over: CRABAPPLE CREEK

5 MI N MATTOON, Coles, IL

Built 1986 Load: 33.4 t ADT: 2,900

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.