Total bridges
227
Public highway bridges in McHenry County
County profile · official public datasets
McHenry County, IL
227 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 41.4% rated Good, 38.3% Fair, 20.3% Poor.
- 227
- Public bridges
- 41.4%
- Good condition
- 20.3%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
McHenry County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 99th
- of 102 on Poor share
- 20.3%
- Poor-condition share
- 227
- 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.
McHenry County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McHenry County ranks #99 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 20.3%). McHenry County, Illinois contains 227 public highway bridges. Roughly 41.4% are rated “Good,” 38.3% “Fair,” and 20.3% “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.
Good condition
41.4%
94 of 227 rated 7-9
Fair condition
38.3%
87 of 227 rated 5-6
Poor condition
20.3%
46 of 227 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#99 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 227 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 41.4% (94)
Fair 38.3% (87)
Poor 20.3% (46)
McHenry County's Poor-condition bridges carry 69,075 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 20.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,502 crossings a day against 7,359 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 227 of 227 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
34.4% of McHenry County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
78 of the 227 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 41.4% 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 16.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 12 over NIPPERSINK CR OVERFL, built 1939, carries 11,500 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 46-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 69,075 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When McHenry County's bridges were built
227 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 1
1910–1919
1 bridges
- 1920s 7
1920–1929
7 bridges
- 1930s 6
1930–1939
6 bridges
- 1940s 7
1940–1949
7 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
23 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
24 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
25 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
27 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
27 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
30 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
44 bridges
- 2020s 5
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 19.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Illinois average (1979).
How McHenry County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Illinois counties nearest McHenry County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 20.3% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington County | 233 | 50.6% | 43.3% | 6% | 1973 |
| Douglas County | 232 | 76.3% | 22.4% | 1.3% | 1982 |
| Clark County | 230 | 62.6% | 32.6% | 4.8% | 1978 |
| Jackson County | 228 | 66.2% | 27.2% | 6.6% | 1987 |
| McHenry County (this page) | 227 | 41.4% | 38.3% | 20.3% | 1983 |
| Woodford County | 223 | 26.9% | 62.8% | 10.3% | 1985 |
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 McHenry 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 McHenry County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside IL (227 bridges here).
- Yell County, AR · 227 bridges
- LaPorte County, IN · 227 bridges
- Rush County, IN · 227 bridges
- St. Joseph County, IN · 227 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.
Fair-condition bridges (87)
CHARLES J MILLER E
FairOver: FOX RIVER
0.1M.W.OF RIVER RD., McHenry, IL
Built 1989 Load: 36.9 t ADT: 8,150
IL 62
FairOver: FOX RIVER
0.15 M E OF IL 31, McHenry, IL
Built 1988 Load: 37.3 t ADT: 43,100
IL 176
FairOver: FOX RIVER
1.8 M W OF CNTY LINE, McHenry, IL
Built 1954 Load: 37.6 t ADT: 18,100
GREEN ROAD
FairOver: N BR KISHWAUKEE RIV
1.0 MI NW OF ALDEN R, McHenry, IL
Built 1975 Load: 37.9 t ADT: 100
US 14
FairOver: KISHWAUKEE RIVER
4 M SE OF IL 23, McHenry, IL
Built 1984 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 7,100
STREIT RD
FairOver: RUSH CREEK
0.4 MI W OF IL RT 23, McHenry, IL
Built 1985 Load: 38.2 t ADT: 700
IL 47
FairOver: SILVER CREEK
9.0 S OF STATE LINE, McHenry, IL
Built 1985 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 4,500
COUNTY LINE ROAD
FairOver: KISHWAUKEE RIVER
.4MI N OF US 20, McHenry, IL
Built 2016 Load: 38.9 t ADT: 475
PAGLES ROAD
FairOver: MOKELER CREEK
0.2 MI N OF STREIT R, McHenry, IL
Built 1980 Load: 40.2 t ADT: 100
JACKSON ROAD
FairOver: COON CREEK
0.2 MI W BURMA RD, McHenry, IL
Built 1980 Load: 40.8 t ADT: 125
IL 47
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
6.3 M S STATE LINE, McHenry, IL
Built 1985 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 4,400
DOTY RD
FairOver: KISHWAUKEE RIVER
0.3 M SO US-14, McHenry, IL
Built 2000 Load: 41.5 t ADT: 1,700
GREEENWOOD RD
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
2.5 MI N IL 120, McHenry, IL
Built 1993 Load: 41.8 t ADT: 3,850
DEEP CUT ROAD
FairOver: UNION PACIFIC RR
.7M N OF NELSON RD, McHenry, IL
Built 2004 Load: 42.4 t ADT: 100
YATES ROAD
FairOver: LAWRENCE CREEK
.8 MI W OF US-14, McHenry, IL
Built 2001 Load: 42.4 t ADT: 125
US 12
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
LAKE/MCHENRY CO.LINE, McHenry, IL
Built 1990 Load: 42.8 t ADT: 11,500
DUNHAM ROAD
FairOver: RUSH CREEK
1.3 MI W IL RTE 23, McHenry, IL
Built 2012 Load: 43.1 t ADT: 275
IL 31
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
1.5 M S OF US 12, McHenry, IL
Built 1927 Load: 44.1 t ADT: 7,600
LAWRENCE ROAD
FairOver: PISCASAW CREEK
.1MI E OF WEIDNER RD, McHenry, IL
Built 2013 Load: 44.7 t ADT: 350
IL 31
FairOver: EDGEWOOD RAVINE
0.5 M S OF IL 62, McHenry, IL
Built 1925 Load: 45.0 t ADT: 21,200
WALLACE DRIVE
FairOver: FOX RIVER SLOUGH
.1 MI W HICKORY NUT, McHenry, IL
Built 2008 Load: 46.3 t ADT: 175
GREEN STREET
FairOver: BOONE CREEK
.1 M S 120.2 M E 31, McHenry, IL
Built 1948 Load: 47.3 t ADT: 4,650
GRAF ROAD
FairOver: W BR PISCASAW CREEK
0.4 MI W MAXON RD, McHenry, IL
Built 2012 Load: 48.3 t ADT: 350
IL 23
FairOver: COON CREEK
0.6 M S I-90 TOLL, McHenry, IL
Built 2011 Load: 50.2 t ADT: 3,250
IL 173
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CR.
2M W of IL47, McHenry, IL
Built 2011 Load: 50.5 t ADT: 3,200
IL 120
FairOver: FOX RIVER
MCHENRY, McHenry, IL
Built 1985 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 18,100
FAU-168 (Wilmot Rd
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
0.2 MI. N. U.S. 12, McHenry, IL
Built 1960 Load: 51.8 t ADT: 7,200
BLIVIN STREET
FairOver: NIPPERSINK CREEK
.3MI N OF US 12, McHenry, IL
Built 2011 Load: 54.4 t ADT: 2,300
IL 176
FairOver: ISLAND LAKE OVERFLOW
ISLAND LAKE, McHenry, IL
Built 1929 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 19,200
NELSON ROAD
FairOver: Slough Creek
0.05 MI E MURRAY RD, McHenry, IL
Built 1963 Load: 63.2 t ADT: 1,800
RILEY RD
FairOver: STREAM
0.2 MI S GRANGE RD, McHenry, IL
Built 1930 Load: 75.8 t ADT: 275
S. RIVER ROAD
FairOver: DEFIANCE LAKE CREEK
4.4M S OF IL120, McHenry, IL
Built 1950 Load: 84.2 t ADT: 3,300
IL 120
FairOver: BOONE CREEK
N LIMITS OF MCHENRY, McHenry, IL
Built 1973 Load: 85.2 t ADT: 25,900
Spring Creek Road
FairOver: Spring Creek
.25M W of Ridge Rd., McHenry, IL
Built 2012 Load: 87.2 t ADT: 625
LAWRENCE ROAD
FairOver: T OF W BR PISCASAW
0.8 M E OF PERKINS R, McHenry, IL
Built 1940 Load: 89.1 t ADT: 350
MAPLE RD. C.H.(T-5
FairOver: TRIB COON CREEK
.15 MI N BECK ROAD, McHenry, IL
Built 1945 Load: 89.1 t ADT: 1,150
HALIGUS ROAD
FairOver: KISHWAUKEE RIVER
1.5 M S 176 1.1 E 47, McHenry, IL
Built 1967 Load: 89.1 t ADT: 4,650
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
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.