Total bridges
79
Public highway bridges in Edwards County
County profile · official public datasets
Edwards County, IL
79 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 64.6% rated Good, 27.8% Fair, 7.6% Poor.
- 79
- Public bridges
- 64.6%
- Good condition
- 7.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Edwards County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- 52nd
- of 102 on Poor share
- 7.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 79
- 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.
Edwards County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Edwards County ranks #52 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.6%). Edwards County, Illinois contains 79 public highway bridges. Roughly 64.6% are rated “Good,” 27.8% “Fair,” and 7.6% “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.
Good condition
64.6%
51 of 79 rated 7-9
Fair condition
27.8%
22 of 79 rated 5-6
Poor condition
7.6%
6 of 79 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#52 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 79 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 64.6% (51)
Fair 27.8% (22)
Poor 7.6% (6)
Edwards County's Poor-condition bridges carry 425 vehicle crossings a day
That is 1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 71 crossings a day against 193 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 79 of 79 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
22.8% of Edwards County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
18 of the 79 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 64.6% 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 47.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
CITY STREET over BUTTER CREEK, built 1909, carries 200 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 425 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Edwards County's bridges were built
79 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s
1900–1909
6 bridges
- 1920s 1
1920–1929
1 bridges
- 1930s 4
1930–1939
4 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
7 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
15 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
14 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 15 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19% 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 Edwards County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Illinois counties nearest Edwards County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.6% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason County | 86 | 33.7% | 61.6% | 4.7% | 1980 |
| Gallatin County | 82 | 78% | 13.4% | 8.5% | 1984 |
| Calhoun County | 81 | 53.1% | 43.2% | 3.7% | 1983 |
| Edwards County (this page) | 79 | 64.6% | 27.8% | 7.6% | 1982 |
| Cass County | 77 | 29.9% | 50.6% | 19.5% | 1986 |
| Brown County | 71 | 47.9% | 38% | 14.1% | 1975 |
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 Edwards 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 Edwards County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IL (79 bridges here).
- Cleveland County, AR · 79 bridges
- Woodruff County, AR · 79 bridges
- Barrow County, GA · 79 bridges
- Grant County, KY · 79 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.
Fair-condition bridges (22)
FAS-1884
FairOver: STINKING CREEK
4.5 MI NW GRAYVILLE, Edwards, IL
Built 1909 Load: 13.9 t ADT: 400
FAS-1814
FairOver: MUD CREEK
1 MI N GRAYVILLE, Edwards, IL
Built 1970 Load: 19.4 t ADT: 275
SBI-1 (BROWNS RD)
FairOver: STREAM
BROWNS, Edwards, IL
Built 1922 Load: 19.8 t ADT: 550
FAS-800
FairOver: LITTLE WABASH RIVER
0.5 MI S BLOOD, Edwards, IL
Built 1940 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 600
FAS-800
FairOver: CROOKED CREEK
1 MI E WEST SALEM, Edwards, IL
Built 1954 Load: 22.0 t ADT: 1,050
TR-40
FairOver: VILLAGE CREEK
3.5 MI NW ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1980 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 50
FAS-800
FairOver: SUGAR CREEK
0.5 MI SE BLOOD, Edwards, IL
Built 1940 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 700
FAS-2815
FairOver: INDIAN CREEK
1 MI W BONE GAP, Edwards, IL
Built 1938 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 350
FAS-1884
FairOver: TRIB BUTTER CREEK
2 MI S ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1950 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 650
FAS-800
FairOver: BONPAS CREEK
2.7 MI E WEST SALEM, Edwards, IL
Built 1949 Load: 25.6 t ADT: 1,000
TR-70
FairOver: VILLAGE CREEK
3.5 MI N ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1909 Load: 26.6 t ADT: 75
FAP-116 (ILL-130)
FairOver: STREAM
0.4 MI S RICHLAND CL, Edwards, IL
Built 1959 Load: 27.5 t ADT: 3,450
FAP-825 (ILL-15)
FairOver: STREAM
2.5 MI E ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1979 Load: 29.8 t ADT: 3,300
FAS-813
FairOver: CROOKED CREEK
0.75 MI NE WEST SALM, Edwards, IL
Built 1986 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50
FAP-116 (ILL-130)
FairOver: STREAM
2 MI S RICHLAND CL, Edwards, IL
Built 1931 Load: 33.4 t ADT: 3,450
TR-100
FairOver: ONION CREEK
1.5 MI NW GRAYVILLE, Edwards, IL
Built 1984 Load: 33.4 t ADT: 50
FAP-332 (ILL-1)
FairOver: MUD CREEK
1.6 MI S WABASH C L, Edwards, IL
Built 1996 Load: 34.0 t ADT: 2,100
FAP-825 (ILL-15)
FairOver: STREAM
2 MI E ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1979 Load: 39.5 t ADT: 3,300
FAP-823 (ILL-15)
FairOver: TRIB BUTTER CREEK
.25 MI W OF ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1976 Load: 44.1 t ADT: 3,650
FAP-116 (ILL-130)
FairOver: NORFOLK SOUTHERN RR
SCL ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1934 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 4,200
FAP-823 (ILL-15)
FairOver: TRIB BUTTER CREEK
2 MI E WAYNE CO LN, Edwards, IL
Built 1976 Load: 65.4 t ADT: 2,800
TR-58
FairOver: VILLAGE CREEK
3 MI NW ALBION, Edwards, IL
Built 1909 Load: 81.0 t ADT: 50
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.