County profile · official public datasets

Saline County, IL

185 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 71.4% rated Good, 23.8% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

185
Public bridges: 71.4%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Saline County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 16%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 185
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saline County ranks #16 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Saline County, Illinois contains 185 public highway bridges. Roughly 71.4% are rated “Good,” 23.8% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

185

Public highway bridges in Saline County

Good condition

71.4%

132 of 185 rated 7-9

Fair condition

23.8%

44 of 185 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

9 of 185 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 185 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

71.4% (132)

Fair

23.8% (44)

Poor

4.9% (9)

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,735 vehicle crossings a day

That is 5.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,748 crossings a day against 1,544 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 185 of 185 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

21.6% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

40 of the 185 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 71.4% 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 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

ILL 34 & 145 over STREAM, built 1924, carries 4,100 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 15,735 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

3
1910s

2
1920s

12
1930s

6
1940s

3
1950s

7
1960s

4
1970s

9
1980s

37
1990s

38
2000s

33
2010s

26
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 6 years newer than the Illinois average of 1979.

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Saline County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Saline County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
De Witt County	192	57.3%	37%	5.7%	1980
Clinton County	190	56.3%	36.3%	7.4%	1976
Lawrence County	185	36.2%	41.1%	22.7%	1975
Saline County (this page)	185	71.4%	23.8%	4.9%	1985
Jasper County	181	70.7%	24.3%	5%	1982
Carroll County	179	37.4%	52%	10.6%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (185 bridges here).

Chambers County, AL · 185 bridges
Maui County, HI · 185 bridges
Cass County, IN · 185 bridges
Clay County, IN · 185 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 185 Good 132 Fair 44 Poor 9

All bridges (185)

Sort:

Saline County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 15,735 vehicle crossings a day

21.6% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 26.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Saline 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 (185)

FAS 902

CH-5

CH 16

TR 119

TR 100

TR 55

TR 279A

FAS 902

TR 261

TR 324

TR 91

TR 222A

TR 35

CH 1

TR 246

TR 67

CH 34

TR 299

CH 32

TR 39

TR 111

TR 152

CH 1

CH 5

TR 35

TR 33

TR 246

TR 272A

CH 10

TR 1

TR 79A-GOSHEN TRAI

TR 143-AIR SHAFT R

CH 10

FAS 902 (FH 20)

TR 142

CH 12-RHINE ROAD

CH 4-CEDAR POINT R

TR 13-GRUMLEY RD

TR 51-GARNER ROAD

TR 267JENNY RIDGE

TR 48

TR 31

TR 119

TR 88

TR 80

TR 3

TR 4

TR 210 JAYBIRD RD

TR 163

FOWLER ROAD

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