Total bridges
266
Public highway bridges in Wayne County
County profile · official public datasets
266 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.1% rated Good, 36.8% Fair, 9% Poor.
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Wayne County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
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.
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Wayne County ranks #67 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9%). Wayne County, Illinois contains 266 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.1% are rated “Good,” 36.8% “Fair,” and 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
266
Public highway bridges in Wayne County
Good condition
54.1%
144 of 266 rated 7-9
Fair condition
36.8%
98 of 266 rated 5-6
Poor condition
9%
24 of 266 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#67 of 102
Among Illinois counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Share of 266 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 302 crossings a day against 432 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 266 of 266 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
88 of the 266 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 54.1% 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.
FAP-821 (ILL-15) over MILLER CREEK, built 1957, 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 24-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 7,245 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
266 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
1900–1909
11 bridges
1910–1919
2 bridges
1920–1929
5 bridges
1930–1939
4 bridges
1940–1949
7 bridges
1950–1959
16 bridges
1960–1969
11 bridges
1970–1979
39 bridges
1980–1989
57 bridges
1990–1999
39 bridges
2000–2009
41 bridges
2010–2019
29 bridges
2020–2029
5 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 57 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Illinois average (1979).
The 5 Illinois counties nearest Wayne County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 101 Illinois counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rock Island County | 272 | 46% | 49.3% | 4.8% | 1983 |
| Grundy County | 269 | 40.5% | 32.7% | 26.8% | 1984 |
| Wayne County (this page) | 266 | 54.1% | 36.8% | 9% | 1982 |
| DeKalb County | 261 | 40.6% | 46.4% | 13% | 1981 |
| Montgomery County | 261 | 52.1% | 40.6% | 7.3% | 1977 |
| Jefferson County | 260 | 47.7% | 46.2% | 6.2% | 1984 |
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 Wayne County's. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
Two NBI-derived peer sets for Wayne County, both outside Illinois so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Nearest county inventories outside IL (266 bridges here).
Nearest mean year-built outside IL (1982 here).
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Over: PADDY CREEK
0.5 MI N KEENES, Wayne, IL
Over: BRANCH POND CREEK
FAIRFIELD, Wayne, IL
Over: FAI-64
1 MI W ILL 242 INT, Wayne, IL
Over: FAI-64
2.5 MI E US-45 INT, Wayne, IL
Over: MARTIN CREEK
0.7 MI E GEFF, Wayne, IL
Over: FAI-64
4.3 MI E JEFFERSN CL, Wayne, IL
Over: WATSON CREEK
.8 MI N WHITE CO LN, Wayne, IL
Over: MILLER CREEK
1.5 MI N MT ERIE, Wayne, IL
Over: DRY FORK
7 MI N SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: DRY FORK
5 MI W GEFF, Wayne, IL
Over: CROOKED CREEK
4 MI N WAYNE CITY, Wayne, IL
Over: LITTLE DRY FORK CK
4.5 MI N SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: FOUR MILE CREEK
2.5 MI SW KEENES, Wayne, IL
Over: CROOKED CREEK
0.5 MI W CRISP, Wayne, IL
Over: WEST DIVERSION DITCH
2.5 MI SE MT ERIE, Wayne, IL
Over: ENDSLEY CREEK
3.5 MI NE CISNE, Wayne, IL
Over: TRIB EAGLE SLOUGH
S FAIRFIELD WYE, Wayne, IL
Over: CAMEL CREEK
1.5 MI NE RINARD, Wayne, IL
Over: ELM RIVER DR DITCH
3 MI SW MT ERIE, Wayne, IL
Over: FISH SLOUGH CREEK
3 MI S WAYNE CITY, Wayne, IL
Over: SKILLET FORK CREEK
2 MI SW ORCHARDVILLE, Wayne, IL
Over: POND CREEK TRIBUTARY
3 MI S MERRIAM, Wayne, IL
Over: CAMEL CREEK
1 MI N RINARD, Wayne, IL
Over: CAMEL CREEK
1 MI W RINARD, Wayne, IL
Over: TRIB SKILLET FORK
2.5 MI N WAYNE CITY, Wayne, IL
Over: UNION DRAINAGE DITCH
2.5 MI NE GOLDEN GT, Wayne, IL
Over: MILLER CREEK
0.5 MI NW SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: LITTLE DRY FORK
5 MI N SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: WHITE OAK SLOUGH
0.5 MI N GOLDEN GATE, Wayne, IL
Over: TRIB BIG MOUND DRAIN
4 MI SE FAIRFIELD, Wayne, IL
Over: TRIB BOB BRANCH
NE SAM DALE LAKE, Wayne, IL
Over: ELM RIVER DR DITCH
4 MI NW GOLDEN GATE, Wayne, IL
Over: UNION DRAIN DITCH
0.25 MI E GOLDEN GT, Wayne, IL
Over: BIG MOUND DRAIN TRIB
1 MI S FAIRFIELD, Wayne, IL
Over: LITTLE WABASH
4.5 MI N GOLDEN GATE, Wayne, IL
Over: DEER CREEK
2.5 MI SE CISNE, Wayne, IL
Over: DRY FORK BY-PASS
3 MI SE JOHNSONVILLE, Wayne, IL
Over: GREGORY BRANCH
3 MI NNW KEENES, Wayne, IL
Over: KING CREEK
2.5 MI W GOLDEN GATE, Wayne, IL
Over: GUM BRANCH
10 MI NW JOHNSONVILL, Wayne, IL
Over: POSSUM CREEK
7 MI N KEENES, Wayne, IL
Over: CREEK
3.5 MI NW RINARD, Wayne, IL
Over: POND CREEK
2 MI NE BURNT PRAIRI, Wayne, IL
Over: WASH HAZEL BR
3.5 MI NE SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: DRY FORK DRAIN DITCH
2 MI SE SIMS, Wayne, IL
Over: BRUSH CREEK
1.7 MI SE ORCHARDVIL, Wayne, IL
Over: TRIB BOYD CREEK
2 MI N MILL SHOALS, Wayne, IL
Over: FOUR MILE CREEK
1.5 MI S KEENS, Wayne, IL
Over: SKILLET FORK
6 MI E MAYBERRY, Wayne, IL
Over: DRAINAGE DITCH
3.5 MI NW MILL SHOAL, Wayne, IL
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.