Total bridges
296
Public highway bridges in Marion County
County profile · official public datasets
296 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 62.5% rated Good, 31.1% Fair, 6.4% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Marion County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state 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, Marion County ranks #33 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.4%). Marion County, Illinois contains 296 public highway bridges. Roughly 62.5% are rated “Good,” 31.1% “Fair,” and 6.4% “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
296
Public highway bridges in Marion County
Good condition
62.5%
185 of 296 rated 7-9
Fair condition
31.1%
92 of 296 rated 5-6
Poor condition
6.4%
19 of 296 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#33 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 296 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 436 crossings a day against 1,404 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 295 of 296 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
131 of the 296 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 62.5% 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.
IL 161 - FAP 805 over FAI-57, built 1968, carries 3,900 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 8,285 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
296 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
32 bridges
1910–1919
2 bridges
1920–1929
6 bridges
1930–1939
5 bridges
1940–1949
6 bridges
1950–1959
18 bridges
1960–1969
48 bridges
1970–1979
30 bridges
1980–1989
52 bridges
1990–1999
39 bridges
2000–2009
36 bridges
2010–2019
18 bridges
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 52 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 17.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 6 years older than the Illinois average of 1979.
The 5 Illinois counties nearest Marion County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 7 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| 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 (this page) | 296 | 62.5% | 31.1% | 6.4% | 1973 |
| Hancock County | 292 | 41.8% | 38% | 20.2% | 1977 |
| Logan County | 292 | 29.8% | 62% | 8.2% | 1975 |
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 Marion County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Marion County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IL (296 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1973 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: PRAIRE CREEK
0.5 MI N ODIN, Marion, IL
Over: DUMS CREEK
2 MI E ALMA, Marion, IL
Over: KASKASKIA RIVER
4 MI E PATOKA, Marion, IL
Over: E FK KASKASKIA RIVER
1.7 MI N KINMUNDY, Marion, IL
Over: Turkey Creek
1.5 Mi E of Junction City, Marion, IL
Over: FAI-57
4 MI S KINMUNDY INT, Marion, IL
Over: DUMS CREEK WEST
4 MI E SALEM, Marion, IL
Over: BRUBAKER CREEK
2 MI E SALEM, Marion, IL
Over: CROOKED CREEK
N OF CENTRAL CITY, Marion, IL
Over: WEBSTER CREEK
4 MI W WALNUT HILL, Marion, IL
Over: WEBSTER CREEK
.8 MI N JEFFERSN C L, Marion, IL
Over: DUMS CREEK
7.5 MI S KINMUNDY, Marion, IL
Over: CROOKED CREEK
.25 MI E SALEM, Marion, IL
Over: BR E FORK KASKASKIA
.5 MI N KIMUNDY INT, Marion, IL
Over: Skillet Fork Creek
3 Mi SE of Iuka, Marion, IL
Over: RACCOON CREEK MIDDLE
1 MILE S OF IL 161, Marion, IL
Over: Crooked Crk Overflow
2.5 Mi S Rt. 50, Marion, IL
Over: BRUBAKER CREEK TRIB
3.6 MI E OF IL 37, Marion, IL
Over: Trib to Skillet Fork
0.1 Mi W Clay Co Ln, Marion, IL
Over: Horse Creek
3.75 Mi E of Kell, Marion, IL
Over: PRAIRIE CREEK
2 MI E US-51, Marion, IL
Over: South Creek
1.5 Mi. S. Salem, Marion, IL
Over: NORTH FORK CREEK
4.5 MI N ALMA, Marion, IL
Over: FLAT CREEK
.4 MI S FAYETTE C L, Marion, IL
Over: LACKEY CREEK
E UP RR IN SALEM, Marion, IL
Over: SKILLET FORK CREEK
2 MI E CLAY CO LN, Marion, IL
Over: Jims Creek
4 Mi SE of Patoka, Marion, IL
Over: DUMS CREEK
3 MI W CLAY CO LN, Marion, IL
Over: FULTON CREEK
CENTRALIA, Marion, IL
Over: VERMILLION CREEK
.25 MI E SELMAVIL RD, Marion, IL
Over: FULTON CREEK
CENTRALIA, Marion, IL
Over: N FORK KASKASKIA RIV
1.5 MI S VERNON, Marion, IL
Over: Trib Centralia Resvr
2 MI E CENTRALIA, Marion, IL
Over: RACCOON CREEK
2.8 MI N JEFF CO LN, Marion, IL
Over: N TRIB E BR KASK RVR
NE OF KINMUNDY, Marion, 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.