County profile · official public datasets

Tazewell County, IL

358 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 25.4% rated Good, 60.1% Fair, 14.5% Poor.

358
Public bridges: 25.4%
Good condition: 14.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

91st
of 102 on Poor share: 14.5%
Poor-condition share: 358
public highway bridges: 1976
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.

Tazewell County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Tazewell County ranks #91 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 14.5%). Tazewell County, Illinois contains 358 public highway bridges. Roughly 25.4% are rated “Good,” 60.1% “Fair,” and 14.5% “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

358

Public highway bridges in Tazewell County

Good condition

25.4%

91 of 358 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.1%

215 of 358 rated 5-6

Poor condition

14.5%

52 of 358 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#91 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 358 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

25.4% (91)

Fair

60.1% (215)

Poor

14.5% (52)

Tazewell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 283,510 vehicle crossings a day

That is 18.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 14.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,452 crossings a day against 1,445 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 357 of 358 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.9% of Tazewell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

175 of the 358 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 25.4% 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 10.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

EB US 150 over ILLINOIS RIVER & T&P RR, built 1948, carries 30,000 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 52-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 283,510 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

6
1920s

11
1930s

9
1940s

12
1950s

36
1960s

78
1970s

42
1980s

44
1990s

51
2000s

40
2010s

20
2020s

8

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 78 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1976) matches the Illinois average (1979).

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

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Tazewell County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 14.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1976 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 6 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Tazewell County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Lee County	371	39.9%	48%	12.1%	1980
Tazewell County (this page)	358	25.4%	60.1%	14.5%	1976
Fayette County	357	56.6%	38.4%	5%	1976
Peoria County	352	24.1%	57.7%	18.2%	1983
Macon County	346	25.7%	58.7%	15.6%	1984
DuPage County	344	37.5%	54.4%	8.1%	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 Tazewell 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 Tazewell County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (358 bridges here).

Nemaha County, KS · 359 bridges
Otoe County, NE · 359 bridges
Chippewa County, WI · 359 bridges
Mendocino County, CA · 357 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1976 here).

Marion County, IN · avg 1976 · 958 bridges
Mohave County, AZ · avg 1976 · 641 bridges
Comanche County, OK · avg 1976 · 593 bridges
Prince George's County, MD · avg 1976 · 576 bridges

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

All 358 Good 91 Fair 215 Poor 52

Fair-condition bridges (215)

Sort:

Tazewell County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Tazewell County's Poor-condition bridges carry 283,510 vehicle crossings a day

48.9% of Tazewell County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 10.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Tazewell 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 (215)

TR 76H

FAS 2462 - CH 11

CH 24

CH 24

FAS 469-CH 9

CH-7 (FAS-1481)

CATERPILLAR RD-TR1

TR 211

HARTFORD RD - TR 2

CENTER RD - TR 275

RAILSBACK RD-TR 27

TR 271

FAS 1774 (OLDIL 12

TULLAMORE RD-TR 21

FAS 463 - 5TH ST

MAIN STREET

FRANKLIN RD - TR 1

RED SHALE HILL-TR1

STRINGTOWN RD-TR22

ARMINGTON RD-TR 29

TR 149

BROADWAY RD-TR 71A

RED SHALE HILL-TR1

STRAUB RD - TR 167

TR 65

BROADWAY RD

FAU 6699

MS#6470A

TR 260

TR 253A

TR 257

TR 61B

TR 62A

HOFFMAN RD - TR 11

MT. RD. - TR 171

TR 4 (MCLEAN CO.)

PARKWAY DR-FAU 671

HARDING RD - TR 43

FAU 6761 - CH 19

FAS 467-CH 5

FAS 2462 - CH 11

14TH ST

TR 88

TR 112

TR 61B

TR 310

TR 244

POLK ST

TR 8B

ILL 29

Related