County profile · official public datasets

Gallatin County, IL

82 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 78% rated Good, 13.4% Fair, 8.5% Poor.

82
Public bridges: 78%
Good condition: 8.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Gallatin County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

61st
of 102 on Poor share: 8.5%
Poor-condition share: 82
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Gallatin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Gallatin County ranks #61 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.5%). Gallatin County, Illinois contains 82 public highway bridges. Roughly 78% are rated “Good,” 13.4% “Fair,” and 8.5% “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

Public highway bridges in Gallatin County

Good condition

78%

64 of 82 rated 7-9

Fair condition

13.4%

11 of 82 rated 5-6

Poor condition

8.5%

7 of 82 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#61 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 82 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

78% (64)

Fair

13.4% (11)

Poor

8.5% (7)

Gallatin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,595 vehicle crossings a day

That is 16.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 942 crossings a day against 307 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 81 of 82 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22% of Gallatin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

18 of the 82 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 78% 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 56.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ILL 13 over NORTH FORK SALINE R, built 1964, carries 3,700 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 7-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,595 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1920s

2
1930s

1
1940s

1
1950s

5
1960s

6
1970s

6
1980s

16
1990s

16
2000s

16
2010s

10

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1984, 5 years newer than the Illinois average of 1979.

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Gallatin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Gallatin County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pope County	88	63.6%	29.5%	6.8%	1983
Mason County	86	33.7%	61.6%	4.7%	1980
Gallatin County (this page)	82	78%	13.4%	8.5%	1984
Calhoun County	81	53.1%	43.2%	3.7%	1983
Edwards County	79	64.6%	27.8%	7.6%	1982
Cass County	77	29.9%	50.6%	19.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (82 bridges here).

Murray County, GA · 82 bridges
Thomas County, KS · 82 bridges
Nicholas County, KY · 82 bridges
St. Charles County, LA · 82 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 82 Good 64 Fair 11 Poor 7

Good-condition bridges (64)

Sort:

Gallatin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Gallatin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,595 vehicle crossings a day

22% of Gallatin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 56.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Gallatin 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 (64)

TR 33

FAS 893

FAS 892-GOLD HILL

ILL 1

CH 1

FAS 1897

TR 136

TR 23

TR 60

TR 60

TR 208

TR 63

TR 158

TWP RD 73

TWP RD 17

TR 201

TR 97

CH 14

TR 208

TR 15

TR 194

TR 44

TR 152-HILL ROAD

TR 70A

FAS 892

TR 126

TR 147-PARKER ROAD

FAS 892-GOLD HILL

TR 128A-FARMER ROA

TR 31

TR 82

SALINE MINE ROAD

SALINE MINE RD

CH 9

TR 126 ANGUS RD

TR 204 GREENHOUSE

CRUNK ROAD

HISE ROAD

BAUER ROAD

THACKERS HOLLOW RO

ST. JOSEPH RD

COTTONWOOD ROAD

MILES CARNAHAN RD

HEAD LANE

HOGAN CEMETERY RD

RINGGOLD RD/CH15

CAMPGROUND ROAD

TR-162 (Rigsby Rd)

FAS 902-FH 36

KEDRON RD

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