Total bridges
523
Public highway bridges in Madison County
County profile · official public datasets
523 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 49.3% rated Good, 42.3% Fair, 8.4% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Madison County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across large county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #60 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 8.4%). Madison County, Illinois contains 523 public highway bridges. Roughly 49.3% are rated “Good,” 42.3% “Fair,” and 8.4% “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
523
Public highway bridges in Madison County
Good condition
49.3%
258 of 523 rated 7-9
Fair condition
42.3%
221 of 523 rated 5-6
Poor condition
8.4%
44 of 523 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#60 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 523 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 4.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 8.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,538 crossings a day against 7,599 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 522 of 523 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
208 of the 523 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 49.3% 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.
FAI 270 EB over COUNTY DITCH, built 1963, carries 24,900 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 44-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 199,650 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
523 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
12 bridges
1910–1919
3 bridges
1920–1929
6 bridges
1930–1939
19 bridges
1940–1949
12 bridges
1950–1959
33 bridges
1960–1969
101 bridges
1970–1979
47 bridges
1980–1989
91 bridges
1990–1999
76 bridges
2000–2009
71 bridges
2010–2019
41 bridges
2020–2029
11 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 101 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Illinois average (1979).
The 5 Illinois counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 8.4% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Livingston County | 579 | 51.8% | 39.9% | 8.3% | 1978 |
| Iroquois County | 570 | 46.5% | 39.1% | 14.4% | 1980 |
| LaSalle County | 528 | 39.4% | 48.3% | 12.3% | 1978 |
| Madison County (this page) | 523 | 49.3% | 42.3% | 8.4% | 1979 |
| Vermilion County | 494 | 27.7% | 65% | 7.3% | 1979 |
| St. Clair County | 486 | 50% | 40.9% | 9.1% | 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 Madison County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Madison County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IL (523 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1979 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: E Fork of Wood River
1.1mi W of IL 255, Madison, IL
Over: ILL 140
.4MI W FOSTERBERG RD, Madison, IL
Over: LITTLE PIASA CREEK
1.3MI S JERSEY CO LN, Madison, IL
Over: WOOD RIVER
1.5 M S ILL 140, Madison, IL
Over: JUDY BRANCH
600 FT SOUTH OF MAIN, Madison, IL
Over: COUNTY DITCH
1 mi W IL 157 on FR, Madison, IL
Over: ICG N&W RR
NEAR E C L VENICE, Madison, IL
Over: I-270
0.26 ME JCT 159, Madison, IL
Over: WOOD RIVERCREEK
1.27 M W ILL 3, Madison, IL
Over: Mississippi Rvr NSRR UPR
ALTON RIVERFRONT, Madison, IL
Over: MINIER SLOUGH
1.9 M W ILL 4, Madison, IL
Over: MINIER SLOUGH
1.9 M W ILL 4, Madison, IL
Over: St. Thomas Rd NSRR
1/2 MI E OF IL 3, Madison, IL
Over: W Trib to Silver Crk
500 N of IL 140, Madison, IL
Over: POWER PLANT ACCESS
1.35MI W IL3/143 JCT, Madison, IL
Over: WENDELL BRANCH
1.6 M E FAI 55, Madison, IL
Over: St. Thomas Rd NSRR
1/2 MI E OF IL 3, Madison, IL
Over: WEST FK WOOD RIVERCK
3.5MI E GODFREY, Madison, IL
Over: BRANCH OF SUGAR CK
2.0 MI S HIGHLAND, Madison, IL
Over: KEEBLER RD
1.5 M W 159, Madison, IL
Over: KEEBLER RD
1.5 M WEST 159, Madison, IL
Over: FAI 55
AT LIVINGSTON, Madison, IL
Over: Abandon RR ownd by quarr
0.1mi E of IL 3, Madison, IL
Over: WOOD RIVER CREEK
W CL OF E ALTON, Madison, IL
Over: W Trib to Sugar Crk
2M E Hghlnd rndabout, Madison, IL
Over: TRIB TO SILVER CK
2.0 MI SW MARINE, Madison, IL
Over: COLLINSVLE BELTLINE
COLLINSVILLE, Madison, IL
Over: COLLINSVLE BELTLINE
COLLINSVILLE, Madison, IL
Over: OA Rd UP KCS GWE NS IL20
1.5 MI W OF IL 111, Madison, IL
Over: OA Rd UP KCS GWE NS IL20
1.5 MI W OF IL 111, Madison, IL
Over: CONRAIL RR
1.5 MI S TROY, Madison, IL
Over: FAI 55
2 M S JCT 140, Madison, IL
Over: FAI 70
2.2 MI E GRNT FRK RD, Madison, IL
Over: Cahokia Creek
0.25 mi N of Edwardsville, Madison, IL
Over: NSRR GWERR UPRR
0.3 MI E OF IL 3, Madison, IL
Over: WILSON HEIGHTS RD
1.7 M E 159, Madison, IL
Over: WILSON HEIGHTS RD
1.7 M E 159, Madison, IL
Over: I-55 & E FRONTAGE RD
0.3 MI SE LIVINGSTON, Madison, IL
Over: FAI 55/70
1.35MI W OF ILL 157, Madison, IL
Over: TRIB TO SILVER CREEK
N OF NEW DOUGLAS RD, Madison, IL
Over: SILVER CK.
3 MI. NE TROY, Madison, IL
Over: HORSESHOE LAKE ROAD
1.2MI W ILL 157, Madison, IL
Over: HORSESHOE LAKE ROAD
1.2MI W ILL157, Madison, IL
Over: TRIB TO SUGAR CK
5.1 MI S HIGHLAND, Madison, IL
Over: CANTEEN CREEK
FAI 70 OVER CANTEEN, Madison, IL
Over: CANTEEN CREEK
FAI 70 OVER CANTEEN, Madison, IL
Over: HIGHLAND SILVER LAKE
2.8 M E ILL 143, Madison, IL
Over: HIGHLAND SILVER LAKE
2.8 M E ILL 143, Madison, IL
Over: ILL 111
AT PONTOON BEACH, Madison, IL
Over: ILL 111
AT PONTOON BEACH, Madison, IL
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.