County profile · official public datasets

Richland County, IL

151 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.2% rated Good, 26.5% Fair, 5.3% Poor.

151
Public bridges: 68.2%
Good condition: 5.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Richland County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 19%
lowest Poor share in state: 5.3%
Poor-condition share: 151
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.

Richland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Richland County ranks #19 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Richland County, Illinois contains 151 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.2% are rated “Good,” 26.5% “Fair,” and 5.3% “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.

Total bridges

151

Public highway bridges in Richland County

Good condition

68.2%

103 of 151 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.5%

40 of 151 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.3%

8 of 151 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#19 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 151 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

68.2% (103)

Fair

26.5% (40)

Poor

5.3% (8)

Richland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,380 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 423 crossings a day against 352 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 150 of 151 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

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

39 of the 151 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 68.2% 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 90.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

FAU 8494 EAST ST over BALTIMORE & OHIO RR, built 1981, carries 3,050 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 8-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,380 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

15
1920s

4
1940s

4
1950s

3
1960s

10
1970s

13
1980s

38
1990s

28
2000s

20
2010s

14
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.2% 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 Richland County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Richland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Richland County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Bond County	162	45.7%	46.3%	8%	1971
Greene County	162	51.9%	42.6%	5.6%	1981
Marshall County	155	42.6%	44.5%	12.9%	1984
Richland County (this page)	151	68.2%	26.5%	5.3%	1979
Randolph County	149	59.7%	32.9%	7.4%	1981
Henderson County	142	33.1%	54.9%	12%	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 Richland 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 Richland County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (151 bridges here).

Randolph County, AR · 151 bridges
Pasco County, FL · 151 bridges
St. Lucie County, FL · 151 bridges
Hall County, GA · 151 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 151 Good 103 Fair 40 Poor 8

All bridges (151)

Sort:

Richland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Richland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,380 vehicle crossings a day

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

One structure carries 90.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Richland 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 (151)

TR-41

FAS-801

TR-18

TR-61

TR-37A

TR-18

TR-230

TR-5B

FAS-801

LINN ST #5000

TR-158

CH-14

FAS-802

FAP-327/FR-1327

TR-240

FAS-801

FAS-1722

CH-8

TR-299

TR-54

TR-164

FAS-801 (CH-5)

CH 08

FAP-327 (US-50)

TR-130

FAP-327 (US-50)

TR-176

FAP-116 (ILL-130)

FAP-327 (US-50)

FAP-327 (US-50)

FAP-116 (ILL-130)

ELLIOTT STREET #55

FAS 1720 (ILL-250)

FAP-327 (US-50)

FAS 1720 (ILL-250)

CH-2

FAP-327 (US-50)

FAP-116 (ILL-130)

FAP-327 (US-50)

CH-14

TR 69

FAS-1717

TR-220

FAS-802

FAS-706 (CH-9)

FAP-116 (ILL-130)

FAS 1720/IL 250

TR-102A

TR-179

TR-35

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