County profile · official public datasets

Hancock County, IL

292 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.8% rated Good, 38% Fair, 20.2% Poor.

292
Public bridges: 41.8%
Good condition: 20.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

98th
of 102 on Poor share: 20.2%
Poor-condition share: 292
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hancock County ranks #98 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20.2%). Hancock County, Illinois contains 292 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.8% are rated “Good,” 38% “Fair,” and 20.2% “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

292

Public highway bridges in Hancock County

Good condition

41.8%

122 of 292 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38%

111 of 292 rated 5-6

Poor condition

20.2%

59 of 292 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#98 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 292 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

41.8% (122)

Fair

38% (111)

Poor

20.2% (59)

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,840 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 184 crossings a day against 728 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 292 of 292 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

34.9% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

102 of the 292 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 41.8% 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 23.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAP 685 ILL 9 over MISSISSIPPI RIVER, built 1927, carries 2,500 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 59-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 10,840 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

8
1910s

13
1920s

13
1930s

6
1940s

1
1950s

11
1960s

33
1970s

36
1980s

71
1990s

39
2000s

33
2010s

24
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 71 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Hancock County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20.2% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 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 Hancock County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Coles County	304	39.5%	51.6%	8.9%	1981
Knox County	304	49.3%	39.5%	11.2%	1982
Ford County	302	55.6%	38.1%	6.3%	1983
Marion County	296	62.5%	31.1%	6.4%	1973
Logan County	292	29.8%	62%	8.2%	1975
Hancock County (this page)	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 Hancock 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 Hancock County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (292 bridges here).

Canyon County, ID · 292 bridges
Jackson County, OK · 292 bridges
Clearfield County, PA · 292 bridges
Boone County, IN · 293 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 292 Good 122 Fair 111 Poor 59

All bridges (292)

Sort:

Hancock County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hancock County's Poor-condition bridges carry 10,840 vehicle crossings a day

34.9% of Hancock County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hancock 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 (292)

TR 39

TR 186

TR 399

TR 218

TR 242

TR 228

TR 8A

TR 300

CO HWY 12

TR 239B

TR 44

2ND STREET

TR 98

TR 226

TR 110

TR 356

TR 46

TR 222

TR 267

TR 57

FAS 1425

TR 214A

TR 57

TR 180

TR 84

FAS 1425

CO HWY 18

TR 36

TR 72

TR 190A

TR 72

TR 9

TR 239

TR 239

FAS 1425

TR 128

FAS-428 (CH-11)

TR 327

IL 9

CO HWY 5

CO HWY 17

FAS 1425

CO HWY 32

TR 385A

TR 158

TR 176

TR 170

TR 389

TR 342

TR 396

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