County profile · official public datasets

Baxter County, AR

91 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 62.6% rated Good, 37.4% Fair, 0% Poor.

91
Public bridges: 62.6%
Good condition: 0%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Baxter County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

Top 3%
lowest Poor share in state: 0%
Poor-condition share: 91
public highway bridges: 1984
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.

Baxter County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Baxter County ranks #2 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). Baxter County, Arkansas contains 91 public highway bridges. Roughly 62.6% are rated “Good,” 37.4% “Fair,” and 0% “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

Public highway bridges in Baxter County

Good condition

62.6%

57 of 91 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.4%

34 of 91 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0 of 91 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 91 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

62.6% (57)

Fair

37.4% (34)

Poor

0% (0)

20.9% of Baxter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

19 of the 91 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 62.6% 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.

1920s

2
1930s

3
1940s

6
1950s

1
1960s

5
1970s

5
1980s

31
1990s

18
2000s

14
2010s

5
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 31 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 34.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1984) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Baxter County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1984 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Baxter County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Pike County	95	36.8%	60%	3.2%	1975
Lee County	94	38.3%	48.9%	12.8%	1979
Baxter County (this page)	91	62.6%	37.4%	0%	1984
Chicot County	88	40.9%	50%	9.1%	1973
Prairie County	88	39.8%	50%	10.2%	1973
Monroe County	85	55.3%	37.6%	7.1%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (91 bridges here).

Breckinridge County, KY · 91 bridges
Reynolds County, MO · 91 bridges
Dawes County, NE · 91 bridges
Keith County, NE · 91 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1984 here).

Hennepin County, MN · avg 1984 · 936 bridges
Duval County, FL · avg 1984 · 831 bridges
El Paso County, CO · avg 1984 · 686 bridges
Bell County, TX · avg 1984 · 660 bridges

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

All 91 Good 57 Fair 34 Poor 0

Fair-condition bridges (34)

Sort:

Baxter County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

20.9% of Baxter County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

How Baxter 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

Fair-condition bridges (34)

CR 91 Baxter

CR 9 Baxter

CR 55 Baxter

CR 73 Baxter

CR 73 Baxter

CR 38 Baxter

CR 168/Strain Rd.

US 62 & US 412

SH 126 Baxter

CR 6 Baxter

CR 3 Baxter

SH 5 Baxter

CR 55 Baxter

Buford Cutoff Gsvl

US 62/412 Baxter

SH 5 Baxter

CR 38 Baxter

Mt Home College St

CR 53 Baxter

State Highway 101

CR 604 Baxter

CR 27 Baxter

CR 27 Baxter

US 62B Baxter

CR 25 Baxter

CR 66 Baxter

CR 718 Baxter

CR 73 Baxter

CR 73 Baxter

SH 341 Baxter

CR 710 Baxter

CR 60 Baxter

SH 201 Baxter

Arkansas Hwy 177

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