County profile · official public datasets

Ford County, IL

302 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.6% rated Good, 38.1% Fair, 6.3% Poor.

302
Public bridges: 55.6%
Good condition: 6.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 30%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.3%
Poor-condition share: 302
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Ford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ford County ranks #31 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.3%). Ford County, Illinois contains 302 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.6% are rated “Good,” 38.1% “Fair,” and 6.3% “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

302

Public highway bridges in Ford County

Good condition

55.6%

168 of 302 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.1%

115 of 302 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.3%

19 of 302 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#31 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 302 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.6% (168)

Fair

38.1% (115)

Poor

6.3% (19)

Ford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,950 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 682 crossings a day against 470 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 301 of 302 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

32.5% of Ford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

98 of the 302 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 55.6% 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 81.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAI 57 NBL over BIG FOUR DITCH, built 1968, carries 10,550 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,950 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1930s

6
1940s

2
1950s

10
1960s

43
1970s

65
1980s

67
1990s

51
2000s

31
2010s

21
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 67 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Ford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ford County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Franklin County	310	77.1%	20.3%	2.6%	1983
Coles County	304	39.5%	51.6%	8.9%	1981
Knox County	304	49.3%	39.5%	11.2%	1982
Ford County (this page)	302	55.6%	38.1%	6.3%	1983
Marion County	296	62.5%	31.1%	6.4%	1973
Hancock County	292	41.8%	38%	20.2%	1977

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (302 bridges here).

Chickasaw County, IA · 302 bridges
Madison County, NE · 302 bridges
Pottawatomie County, KS · 303 bridges
Callaway County, MO · 303 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Bernalillo County, NM · avg 1983 · 496 bridges

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

All 302 Good 168 Fair 115 Poor 19

All bridges (302)

Sort:

Ford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,950 vehicle crossings a day

32.5% of Ford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 81.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ford 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 (302)

TR 35A BRENTON

TR19

TR 2B LYMAN

TR 37 BRENTON

FAS342/CHATSWORTH

TR 83

TR 64

TR 88

TR 39

TR 58

TR 57E

TR 83

TR 89 DRUMMER

TR 64A

TR 29

TR 91/DIX TWP

TR 7

FAS 1346/CH5/LEHIG

TR 31

TR 23

TR 64 MONA

FAS 339 (CH 4)

TR 60B

TR 42

TR 32 PEACH ORCHAR

TR 25

TR 82 BUTTON

TR 60A LYMAN

FAS 515 BASE LINE

TR 24 DIX

TR 35 BRENTON

TR 36

TR 32 N 900 E RD

TR 31/ 2500 N RD

TR 105A

TR 13 Mona

TR-88

TR 19A PELLA

PELLS ST/MS 1600

HOLMES ST. FAU 3

US 45

FAS1346 CH5 LEHIGH

IL 54/FAP 71A

ILL 54

TR 91 PATTON

CH 26 STEVES RD

CH 26 STEVES RD

TR 99 DRUMMER

IL 54 /FAP 71A

ILL 47

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