Where to find Illinois bridges classified in ‘poor’ condition by the federal government

This story and visualization are part of our new “Data In Your Life” series, in which we mine public databases to tell quick stories about the world around us.

In the early hours of March 26, a 985-foot container ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, bringing a portion of the 1.6-mile-long bridge down in less than 40 seconds.

Although the Key Bridge might have fallen no matter its condition, the high-profile accident focused attention on bridge safety across the nation. The Federal Highway Administration maintains a public database of bridge ratings in every state , including Illinois. The ratings consider multiple parts of a bridge’s structure, including the deck, superstructure, substructure and culvert.

The federal government assigns three designations to rate the condition of bridges: Good, fair and poor. In 2023, the Key Bridge was in the “fair” group, along with about 49% of the country’s bridges. Another 44% are rated “good” and almost 7% were considered “poor.”

The ratings “good,” “fair” and “poor” are given based on assessments that consider many factors , according to information provided by the Federal Highway Administration. A bridge receiving a “poor” rating does not necessarily indicate it is unsafe to cross.

The state of bridges in Illinois

In Illinois, 44.4% of the state’s thousands of bridges carry the “fair” rating, according to the federal database.

Meanwhile, about 9.2% of the state’s bridges were rated as in “poor” condition as of 2023. The data does not include the commonly used names of the bridges.

In 2023, Rebuilding Illinois, an infrastructure initiative passed in 2019, provided ongoing funding for infrastructure projects throughout the state, including completed work on 578 Illinois bridges , a December press release stated. A number of bridges spanning the Mississippi River are among those being replaced or repaired, the release indicated.

The Key Bridge in Baltimore relied on piers, which were essential to its structural integrity.

Without sufficient protective barriers surrounding the piers, other bridge components couldn’t compensate for the missing support when the large container ship, called the Dali, crashed into one of the piers, The New York Times reported in March . Even with stronger protective barriers, it’s possible the bridge still wouldn’t have been able to withstand a hit from such a large ship.

Central service journalism editor Jackie Starkey contributed to this report.