County profile · official public datasets

Pike County, IL

330 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.9% rated Good, 66.1% Fair, 10% Poor.

330
Public bridges: 23.9%
Good condition: 10%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 102 on Poor share: 10%
Poor-condition share: 330
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pike County ranks #72 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10%). Pike County, Illinois contains 330 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.9% are rated “Good,” 66.1% “Fair,” and 10% “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

330

Public highway bridges in Pike County

Good condition

23.9%

79 of 330 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.1%

218 of 330 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10%

33 of 330 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 330 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.9% (79)

Fair

66.1% (218)

Poor

10% (33)

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,395 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.3% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 648 crossings a day against 1,283 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 330 of 330 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

25.8% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

85 of the 330 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 23.9% 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 77.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-72 / US 36 over MISS R/BNRR/NSRR/ST, built 1999, carries 16,500 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 33-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 21,395 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

8
1910s

4
1920s

12
1930s

16
1940s

8
1950s

14
1960s

18
1970s

18
1980s

118
1990s

55
2000s

32
2010s

23
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 118 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 35.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Pike County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pike County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Kane County	336	48.2%	45.5%	6.3%	1986
Shelby County	335	56.4%	36.4%	7.2%	1978
Pike County (this page)	330	23.9%	66.1%	10%	1979
Henry County	328	49.4%	39.6%	11%	1978
Christian County	321	16.2%	67%	16.8%	1969
Adams County	319	40.4%	53.6%	6%	1976

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (330 bridges here).

Tippecanoe County, IN · 330 bridges
Garvin County, OK · 330 bridges
Sebastian County, AR · 331 bridges
Pike County, KY · 331 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 330 Good 79 Fair 218 Poor 33

All bridges (330)

Sort:

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 21,395 vehicle crossings a day

25.8% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 77.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pike 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 (330)

FAS 596

TR 274

TR 85A

TR 325

TR 269

TR 330

TR 268

TR 123

TR 381

TR 301

TR 194

TR 194

TR 191A

TR 245

TR 102

TR 64

FAS 601

TR 323

TR 7

TR 464A

TR 231

TR 252

TR 398

TR 512

FAS 601

TR 52

TR 289

TR 148

TR 127

TR 359

TR 205

FAS 608 (CH 10)

FAS 600 CH 8

I-72 EB

US 54

IL 104

FAS 604

US 54

ILL 106

CH 7/FAS 604

ILL 96

TR 180B

IL 104

IL 106

I-72EB TO I-172NB

I-72

US 54

IL 104

CH 4

I-72/US 36 (EB)

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