County profile · official public datasets

Arkansas County, AR

154 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.5% rated Good, 53.9% Fair, 2.6% Poor.

154
Public bridges: 43.5%
Good condition: 2.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Arkansas County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 21%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.6%
Poor-condition share: 154
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Arkansas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Arkansas County ranks #16 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.6%). Arkansas County, Arkansas contains 154 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.5% are rated “Good,” 53.9% “Fair,” and 2.6% “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

154

Public highway bridges in Arkansas County

Good condition

43.5%

67 of 154 rated 7-9

Fair condition

53.9%

83 of 154 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.6%

4 of 154 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#16 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 154 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.5% (67)

Fair

53.9% (83)

Poor

2.6% (4)

Arkansas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,160 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 790 crossings a day against 1,085 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 154 of 154 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

40.3% of Arkansas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

62 of the 154 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 43.5% 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 41.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 130-06 LM 24.96 over Prices Branch, built 1967, carries 1,300 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,160 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

4
1930s

8
1940s

5
1950s

9
1960s

32
1970s

6
1980s

12
1990s

40
2000s

19
2010s

13
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

How Arkansas County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Arkansas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.6% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 5 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 74 Arkansas counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Arkansas County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Johnson County	162	46.3%	51.9%	1.9%	1972
Arkansas County (this page)	154	43.5%	53.9%	2.6%	1980
Logan County	152	19.1%	72.4%	8.6%	1961
Randolph County	151	39.1%	57.6%	3.3%	1976
Drew County	149	54.4%	41.6%	4%	1986
Madison County	149	22.1%	62.4%	15.4%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (154 bridges here).

Choctaw County, AL · 154 bridges
Kootenai County, ID · 154 bridges
Elk County, KS · 154 bridges
Madison County, KY · 154 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Hinds County, MS · avg 1980 · 663 bridges

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

All 154 Good 67 Fair 83 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (67)

Sort:

Arkansas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Arkansas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,160 vehicle crossings a day

40.3% of Arkansas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Arkansas County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Good-condition bridges (67)

Bennett Road-CR

Pin Oak Rd-CR 226

Doughboy Rd-CR59

Sollars Rd-CR 179

Moss Road-CR 261

Baser Road-CR

SH 343-01 LM 0.22

Roth Prairie Rd-CR

US 79-11 LM 4.71

Old Almyra Way-CR

Lone Tree Rd-CR19

SH 130-06 LM 9.45

US 165-05 LM 15.27

US 165-05 LM 15.35

SH 130-06 LM 2.29

SH 130-06 LM 5.87

US 165-05 LM 37.58

SH 152-02 LM 1.53

ShirleyOwenRd-CR62

SH 130-06 LM 22.64

PleasantGroveRd-CR

North Tower Rd-CR

Crabtree Rd-CR252

US 165-05 LM 11.35

US 165-5C LM 0.48

SH 153-02 LM 2.99

US 165-05 LM 22.64

SH 1-05 LM 8.63

SH 152-02 LM 6.83

SH 144-00 LM 0.00

SH 130-06 LM 1.80

US 165-05 LM 18.15

US 165-05 LM 19.30

US 165-05 LM 19.56

SH 169-02 LM 0.73

McAdams Rd-CR 82

US 165-05 LM 30.42

Cox Cypress Rd-CR

SH 276-01 LM 7.17

SH 153-02 LM 3.04

SH 980-AlmyraAport

US 165-07 LM 4.47

SH 1-05 LM 7.36

Bell Road-CR 168

North Yoder Rd-CR

Boonhill Road-CR

US 165-05 LM 0.64

US 165-05 LM 1.30

SH 13-07 LM 2.54

SH 13-07 LM 3.42

Related