County profile · official public datasets

Menard County, IL

89 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.4% rated Good, 49.4% Fair, 10.1% Poor.

89
Public bridges: 40.4%
Good condition: 10.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

74th
of 102 on Poor share: 10.1%
Poor-condition share: 89
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Menard County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Menard County ranks #74 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.1%). Menard County, Illinois contains 89 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.4% are rated “Good,” 49.4% “Fair,” and 10.1% “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 Menard County

Good condition

40.4%

36 of 89 rated 7-9

Fair condition

49.4%

44 of 89 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.1%

9 of 89 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#74 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 89 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.4% (36)

Fair

49.4% (44)

Poor

10.1% (9)

Menard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 500 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 56 crossings a day against 640 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 89 of 89 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.2% of Menard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

26 of the 89 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 40.4% 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 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAS 1571 over SALT CREEK, built 1978, carries 100 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 500 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

5
1920s

1
1930s

5
1940s

1
1950s

7
1960s

6
1970s

8
1980s

14
1990s

18
2000s

14
2010s

9
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Menard County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.1% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Menard County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Alexander County	93	26.9%	64.5%	8.6%	1981
Stark County	93	57%	37.6%	5.4%	1983
Wabash County	89	61.8%	32.6%	5.6%	1983
Menard County (this page)	89	40.4%	49.4%	10.1%	1980
Pope County	88	63.6%	29.5%	6.8%	1983
Mason County	86	33.7%	61.6%	4.7%	1980

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (89 bridges here).

Noble County, IN · 89 bridges
Bath County, KY · 89 bridges
Boyd County, KY · 89 bridges
Boyle County, KY · 89 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
Pulaski County, AR · avg 1980 · 721 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges

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

All 89 Good 36 Fair 44 Poor 9

Fair-condition bridges (44)

Sort:

Menard County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Menard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 500 vehicle crossings a day

29.2% of Menard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 20% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Menard 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

Fair-condition bridges (44)

CH-6 (FAS-576)

TR 34

CH 14

TR 21

FAS 573

TR 149

ILL 29

TR 47

CH 11

TR 122

TR 120

TR 69

TR 133

FAS 575

TR-96

FAS 575

FAS 573

TR 30

FAS 1574

TR 27

FAS 573 (CH 1)

TR 26

ILL 29

ILL 97

ILL 123

TR 120

FAS 634

TR 128

FAS 573 / CH 1

TR 101

ATHENS RD.

TR 79

ILL 97

ILL 97

FAS 573

TR 82

FAS-1574

FAS 573

FAS 573

ILL 123

FAS 1574

FAS 1579

ILL 97

ILL 29

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