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.

1900s

26
1910s

3
1930s

12
1950s

5
1960s

53
1970s

34
1980s

38
1990s

27
2000s

31
2010s

19
2020s

5

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.

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	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
DeKalb County	261	40.6%	46.4%	13%	1981
Montgomery County	261	52.1%	40.6%	7.3%	1977
Jefferson County	260	47.7%	46.2%	6.2%	1984
Effingham County (this page)	253	47.4%	47.8%	4.7%	1974
Lake County	251	37.1%	53%	10%	1976
Piatt County	246	62.2%	31.7%	6.1%	1979

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).

Livingston County, LA · 253 bridges
Manatee County, FL · 254 bridges
Ottawa County, MI · 254 bridges
Wagoner County, OK · 254 bridges

Similar average build year

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

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All bridges (253)

Sort:

Effingham County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 32% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Effingham 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

All bridges (253)

FAS 2701 (ILL-37)

FAI-70 WB

FAI-70 EB

FAI-70 EB

FAI-70 WB

FAS 2796 (US-40)

FAP-774 (ILL-33)

TR-111

TR-145A

FAU 8361(RANEY ST)

FAU 8384/OUTERBELT

FAS-1710 (CH-6)

TR-21

FAI-57 SB

FAI-57 NB

FAS-1710 (US-40)

FAS-708 (CH-12)

FAI-57 NB

FAI-57 SB

FAI-70 WB

FAS-1724 (CH-23)

FAU-8354 (US-40)

TR-241

CH-26

FAP-774 (ILL-33)

CH-13 PUMPING STA

FAI-57 NB

FAI-57 SB

TR-309

FAP-828 (CC-MONT B

TR-288

FAP-95 (ILL 33)

FAS 2796 (US-40)

FAU 8381

TR-34A

FAS 2701

FAS-1710 (US-40)

TR-139

FAP-774 (ILL-32 33

FAP 95 - IL 33

FAS-1710 (US-40)

CH-11 SCHNIEDER RD

FAS 2801 (IL 128)

FAS 2701 (ILL-37)

FAP 95(ILL 33)

FAI-70

FAI-57 NB

FAP-774 (ILL-33)

I70WB/I57SB

I70EB/I57NB

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