County profile · official public datasets

Woodford County, IL

223 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.9% rated Good, 62.8% Fair, 10.3% Poor.

223
Public bridges: 26.9%
Good condition: 10.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Woodford County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

75th
of 102 on Poor share: 10.3%
Poor-condition share: 223
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.

Woodford County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Woodford County ranks #75 of 102 Illinois counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.3%). Woodford County, Illinois contains 223 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.9% are rated “Good,” 62.8% “Fair,” and 10.3% “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

223

Public highway bridges in Woodford County

Good condition

26.9%

60 of 223 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.8%

140 of 223 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.3%

23 of 223 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#75 of 102

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

Condition distribution

Share of 223 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.9% (60)

Fair

62.8% (140)

Poor

10.3% (23)

Woodford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,100 vehicle crossings a day

That is 11% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,700 crossings a day against 304 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 223 of 223 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.9% of Woodford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

51 of the 223 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 26.9% 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 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

WB I-74 over MACKINAW RIVER, built 1964, carries 14,200 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 39,100 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1920s

4
1930s

3
1940s

7
1950s

9
1960s

22
1970s

21
1980s

52
1990s

55
2000s

24
2010s

21
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 55 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.7% 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 Woodford County compares with Illinois's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Illinois counties nearest Woodford County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Woodford County and the 5 Illinois counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Douglas County	232	76.3%	22.4%	1.3%	1982
Clark County	230	62.6%	32.6%	4.8%	1978
Jackson County	228	66.2%	27.2%	6.6%	1987
McHenry County	227	41.4%	38.3%	20.3%	1983
Woodford County (this page)	223	26.9%	62.8%	10.3%	1985
White County	214	29.4%	64%	6.5%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside IL (223 bridges here).

Ford County, KS · 223 bridges
Hardin County, KY · 223 bridges
Stanton County, NE · 223 bridges
Macon County, NC · 223 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 223 Good 60 Fair 140 Poor 23

All bridges (223)

Sort:

Woodford County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Woodford County's Poor-condition bridges carry 39,100 vehicle crossings a day

22.9% of Woodford County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Woodford 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 (223)

ILL 89

I-39/US 51 SB

I-39/US 51 NB

ILL 89

CH 9 KAPPA RD

TR 215

FAS 361 (CH 5)

I-39 US 51 NB

ILL 117

ILL 116

FAS 359 ROANOKE RD

TR 165

I-39 US 51 SB

EB I-74

WB I-74

TR.50

FAS 359 CH 4

CH 5

ILL 26

ILL 89

I 39/US 51

CH 3

ILL 26

I-39/US 51 SB

I-39/US 51 NB

CH 2 (2200 N)

FAS 267 (CH 20)

FAS 2370(IL 26)

FAP673 ILL 116

US 24

ILL 26

IL 251 FAS 1360

I 39/US 51

IL 251

I 39/US 51

IL 117

ILL 26

US 24

ILL 116

TR 4

TR 231

TR 252

TR 242

TR 129

TR 106

TR 140B

TR149

TR137

TR 47

TR 213

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