County profile · official public datasets

Effingham County, IL

253 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.4% rated Good, 47.8% Fair, 4.7% Poor.

253
Public bridges
47.4%
Good condition
4.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Effingham County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 13%
lowest Poor share in state
4.7%
Poor-condition share
253
public highway bridges
1974
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.

Effingham County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Effingham County ranks #13 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.7%). Effingham County, Illinois contains 253 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.4% are rated “Good,” 47.8% “Fair,” and 4.7% “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

253

Public highway bridges in Effingham County

Good condition

47.4%

120 of 253 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.8%

121 of 253 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.7%

12 of 253 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 253 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
47.4% (120)
Fair
47.8% (121)
Poor
4.7% (12)

Effingham County's Poor-condition bridges carry 37,370 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 3,114 crossings a day against 750 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 253 of 253 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.3% of Effingham County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

107 of the 253 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 47.4% 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 32% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAI-70 EB over FAS-711, built 1961, carries 11,950 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 37,370 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Effingham County's bridges were built

253 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 53 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 5 years older than the Illinois average of 1979.

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

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Effingham County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 5 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Effingham County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
DeKalb County 261 13%
Montgomery County 261 7.3%
Jefferson County 260 6.2%
Effingham County (this page) 253 4.7%
Lake County 251 10%
Piatt County 246 6.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (253 bridges here).

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1974 here).

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

All 253 Good 120 Fair 121 Poor 12

Good-condition bridges (120)

FAS-711 (CH 25)

Good

Over: FULFER CREEK

6 MI S ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1938 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 1,350

FAS-709 (CH-19)

Good

Over: BISHOP CREEK

5 MI E HEARTVILLE, Effingham, IL

Built 1939 Load: 20.4 t ADT: 850

FAS 1707 (US-40)

Good

Over: STREAM

2.5 MI W MONTROSE, Effingham, IL

Built 1958 Load: 21.7 t ADT: 3,950

TR-309

Good

Over: LITTLE MUDDY CREEK

1 MI SW WINTERROWD, Effingham, IL

Built 1909 Load: 22.4 t ADT: 35

TR-46

Good

Over: MOCCASIN CREEK

0.5 MI N BLUE POINT, Effingham, IL

Built 1972 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 100

TR-269A

Good

Over: RAMSEY CREEK

3.5 M NE EBERLE, Effingham, IL

Built 1976 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 200

TR-310A

Good

Over: RAMSEY CREEK

3 MI NE EBERLE, Effingham, IL

Built 1975 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 50

TR-14A

Good

Over: FULFER CREEK

7 MI S ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1984 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 50

2000 CHURCH ST

Good

Over: DIETERICH CREEK

DIETERICH, Effingham, IL

Built 1975 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 75

TR-264

Good

Over: E BR GREEN CREEK

4 MI NE EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 1976 Load: 24.9 t ADT: 375

TR-87A

Good

Over: LITTLE SALT CREEK

2.5 MI SE TEUTOPOLIS, Effingham, IL

Built 1972 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 425

CH-13

Good

Over: LITTLE SALT CREEK

2 MI SW MONTROSE, Effingham, IL

Built 1973 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 250

TR-77A

Good

Over: LAKE SARA SPILLWAY

2 MI W EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 1957 Load: 25.9 t ADT: 900

TR-283

Good

Over: LIMESTONE CREEK

2.5 MI W MASON, Effingham, IL

Built 1982 Load: 26.6 t ADT: 50

FAS-709 (CH-19)

Good

Over: LITTLE SALT CREEK

4 MI S TEUTOPOLIS, Effingham, IL

Built 1939 Load: 26.9 t ADT: 1,300

TR-14A

Good

Over: FULFER CREEK

4 MI S ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1982 Load: 27.2 t ADT: 150

01800 SECTION ST

Good

Over: DIETERICH CREEK

DIETERICH, Effingham, IL

Built 1969 Load: 30.1 t ADT: 375

TR 231 A

Good

Over: BROCKETT CREEK

4 MI SE ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 2009 Load: 30.5 t ADT: 175

TR-85

Good

Over: MOCCASIN CREEK

4 MI NNE ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1978 Load: 31.1 t ADT: 100

TR-302

Good

Over: BISHOP CREEK

3 MI NW DIETRICH, Effingham, IL

Built 1978 Load: 31.4 t ADT: 275

TR-11

Good

Over: E BR GREEN CREEK

4.5 MI NE EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 1978 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150

TR-3

Good

Over: HENRY CREEK

1 MI N ST MARYS, Effingham, IL

Built 1981 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR-266

Good

Over: BISHOP CREEK

4 MI E WATSON, Effingham, IL

Built 1981 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150

TR-14

Good

Over: MOCCASIN CREEK

4.75 MI N ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR-3

Good

Over: GREEN CREEK

2 MI NW ST MARYS, Effingham, IL

Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR-9A

Good

Over: MORRIS CREEK

2.5 MI NW SHUMWAY, Effingham, IL

Built 1985 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

FAU 8382 JC AVE

Good

Over: ICG RR

EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 1989 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 5,000

TR-294

Good

Over: SALT CREEK

4 MI NW DIETERICH, Effingham, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 200

TR-36

Good

Over: MOCCASIN CREEK

2 MI SE MOCCASIN, Effingham, IL

Built 1996 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

FAS-1725

Good

Over: FIRST SALT CREEK

N C L TEUTOPOLIS, Effingham, IL

Built 1976 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,600

FAS-1725

Good

Over: SECOND SALT CREEK

0.5 N TEUTOPOLIS, Effingham, IL

Built 1976 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 2,600

TR-62

Good

Over: SECOND CREEK

4 MI SE ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1998 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 300

TR-217

Good

Over: TRIB DIETERICK CK

5 MI E WATSON, Effingham, IL

Built 1997 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 125

TR 266

Good

Over: LITTLE BISHOP CREEK

2 MI SW ELLIOTSTOWN, Effingham, IL

Built 2001 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 175

TR 242

Good

Over: SALT CREEK

1 MI W TEUTOPOLIS, Effingham, IL

Built 2002 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 475

TR 160

Good

Over: GREEN CREEK

NW EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 2006 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 525

TR 115

Good

Over: LILY CREEK

2 MI NE DEXTER, Effingham, IL

Built 2003 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

TR 232

Good

Over: SALT CREEK BRANCH

1 MI E EFFINGHAM, Effingham, IL

Built 2004 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 125

TR 46

Good

Over: CREEK

2 MI NE ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 2007 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR 284

Good

Over: RAMSEY CREEK

1.2 MI N EBERLE, Effingham, IL

Built 2007 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 50

TR-40

Good

Over: Coon Creek

1 MI E ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 2017 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 625

TR 237

Good

Over: Bishop Creek Trib

1 Mi. E. Elliottstow, Effingham, IL

Built 2015 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 150

TR 288

Good

Over: Trib Salt Creek Tr

2.0 Mi. N of Ttown, Effingham, IL

Built 2016 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 375

TR 121 1200th Av

Good

Over: Rock Creek

3 Mi. NW Altamont, Effingham, IL

Built 2020 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 75

FAS 810

Good

Over: LUCAS CREEK

0.25 MI S EBERLE, Effingham, IL

Built 1977 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 250

FAS 810

Good

Over: LOWER BR LUCAS CREEK

0.5 MI S EBERLE, Effingham, IL

Built 1977 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 250

FAS-1709 (CH-8)

Good

Over: NORTH FORK

3 MI NE SHUMWAY, Effingham, IL

Built 1979 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 300

FAS-708 (CH-12)

Good

Over: COON CREEK

2.5 MI E MASON, Effingham, IL

Built 1979 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 325

TR-47A

Good

Over: SECOND SALT CREEK

1.5 MI N T-TOWN, Effingham, IL

Built 1983 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 100

TR-177

Good

Over: COON CREEK

2 MI SE ALTAMONT, Effingham, IL

Built 1984 Load: 32.4 t ADT: 200

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

Related

Browse all → | Rankings →
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.