County profile · official public datasets

Boone County, AR

98 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.1% rated Good, 42.9% Fair, 3.1% Poor.

98
Public bridges: 54.1%
Good condition: 3.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Boone County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 27%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.1%
Poor-condition share: 98
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Boone County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Boone County ranks #20 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.1%). Boone County, Arkansas contains 98 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.1% are rated “Good,” 42.9% “Fair,” and 3.1% “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 Boone County

Good condition

54.1%

53 of 98 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42.9%

42 of 98 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.1%

3 of 98 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#20 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 98 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.1% (53)

Fair

42.9% (42)

Poor

3.1% (3)

Boone County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,055 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,352 crossings a day against 4,857 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 98 of 98 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

55.1% of Boone County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

54 of the 98 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.

One structure carries 86.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 65B Boone over CROOKED CREEK, built 1930, carries 6,093 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,055 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

7
1930s

7
1940s

9
1950s

10
1960s

19
1970s

5
1980s

5
1990s

20
2000s

11
2010s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 20 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 9 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Boone County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Boone County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Dallas County	103	56.3%	38.8%	4.9%	1980
Phillips County	101	37.6%	40.6%	21.8%	1983
Van Buren County	98	44.9%	48%	7.1%	1979
Boone County (this page)	98	54.1%	42.9%	3.1%	1971
Pike County	95	36.8%	60%	3.2%	1975
Lee County	94	38.3%	48.9%	12.8%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (98 bridges here).

Dougherty County, GA · 98 bridges
Butler County, KY · 98 bridges
Koochiching County, MN · 98 bridges
Fulton County, NY · 98 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 98 Good 53 Fair 42 Poor 3

All bridges (98)

Sort:

Boone County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Boone County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,055 vehicle crossings a day

55.1% of Boone County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 86.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Boone 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

All bridges (98)

CR 247 Boone

CR 35 Boone

CR 45 Boone

Harisn Central Ave

CR 45 Boone

Harrison E Ridge

Stephenson/Harisn

SH 14 Boone

CR 89 Boone

CR 50 Boone

SH 392 Boone

Harrison Spring St

US 62/412 Boone

SH 7 Boone

SH 392 Boone

US 65 Boone

SH 7 Boone

Harrison Maple St

SH 206 Boone

Harrison Lakeshore

SH 43 Boone

SH 206 Boone

Boone US 62 & 412

SH 206 Boone

SH 7 Boone Co.

SH 206 Boone

HarrisnMain Street

CR 12 Boone

US 65 Boone

US 65B South Boone

Harrison Goblin Dr

SH 7 Boone Co.

CR 655 Boone

Forward Dr/Harison

Harrisn/Forward Dr

CR 655 Boone

SH 7 Boone

SH 7 Boone

CR 607 Boone

CR 607 Boone

Indust Pk Rd/Hrisn

US 65 Boone

US 65 Boone

CR 519 Boone

SH 7 Boone

SH 14 Boone

US 62 Boone

US 65 Boone

SH 14 Boone

SH 14 Boone

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