County profile · official public datasets

Fayette County, IL

357 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.6% rated Good, 38.4% Fair, 5% Poor.

357
Public bridges: 56.6%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Fayette County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 18%
lowest Poor share in state: 5%
Poor-condition share: 357
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fayette County ranks #18 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Fayette County, Illinois contains 357 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.6% are rated “Good,” 38.4% “Fair,” and 5% “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

357

Public highway bridges in Fayette County

Good condition

56.6%

202 of 357 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.4%

137 of 357 rated 5-6

Poor condition

18 of 357 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#18 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 357 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.6% (202)

Fair

38.4% (137)

Poor

5% (18)

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,270 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,904 crossings a day against 312 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 357 of 357 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.2% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

147 of the 357 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 56.6% 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 37.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAI 70 WB over IL 140 & CSXT RR, built 2005, carries 12,900 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 34,270 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

9
1910s

2
1920s

9
1930s

35
1940s

22
1950s

10
1960s

55
1970s

21
1980s

55
1990s

39
2000s

54
2010s

36
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 15.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Fayette County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Fayette County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Tazewell County	358	25.4%	60.1%	14.5%	1976
Fayette County (this page)	357	56.6%	38.4%	5%	1976
Peoria County	352	24.1%	57.7%	18.2%	1983
Macon County	346	25.7%	58.7%	15.6%	1984
DuPage County	344	37.5%	54.4%	8.1%	1985
Kankakee County	344	40.1%	53.5%	6.4%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (357 bridges here).

Mendocino County, CA · 357 bridges
Hancock County, OH · 357 bridges
Preble County, OH · 357 bridges
Augusta County, VA · 357 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 357 Good 202 Fair 137 Poor 18

Good-condition bridges (202)

Sort:

Fayette County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Fayette County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,270 vehicle crossings a day

41.2% of Fayette County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Fayette 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 (202)

TR 356

TR 470

CH 19

TR 342

TR 413

TR 250

FAS 712

TR-442

TR-518

TR 264A

TR 413

TR 471

TR 258

FAS 716/ CH4

TR 315

TR 195

TR 177

TR 386

TR 571B

CH 3

TR 248

TR 440

CH 9

TR 54

TR 274

TR 272

TR 299

TR 324A

TR 418

TR 416

FAS 712 (CH 12)

TR 437

TR 442

CH 9

TR 254

TR 454

TR 503

FAS 720/CH 10

TR 78

TR 438

TR 377

TR 518

TR 140

TR 512

FAI 70/FR 1114

TR 292

FAS 1714

FAS 720

TR 310A

TR 352

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