County profile · official public datasets

Calhoun County, AR

114 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.4% rated Good, 40.4% Fair, 5.3% Poor.

114
Public bridges: 54.4%
Good condition: 5.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Calhoun 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.

42nd
of 75 on Poor share: 5.3%
Poor-condition share: 114
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.

Calhoun County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Calhoun County ranks #42 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.3%). Calhoun County, Arkansas contains 114 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.4% are rated “Good,” 40.4% “Fair,” and 5.3% “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

114

Public highway bridges in Calhoun County

Good condition

54.4%

62 of 114 rated 7-9

Fair condition

40.4%

46 of 114 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.3%

6 of 114 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#42 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 114 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.4% (62)

Fair

40.4% (46)

Poor

5.3% (6)

Calhoun County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,992 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 665 crossings a day against 1,576 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 114 of 114 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.7% of Calhoun County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 114 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 54.4% 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 42.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 8 S-9 LM1.1 over MORO CREEK, built 1941, carries 1,700 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,992 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

5
1940s

5
1950s

12
1960s

13
1970s

13
1980s

8
1990s

6
2000s

11
2010s

26
2020s

11

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 5 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Calhoun County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.3% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 9 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Calhoun County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carroll County	119	47.1%	50.4%	2.5%	1975
Perry County	118	60.2%	38.1%	1.7%	1968
Howard County	116	40.5%	56%	3.4%	1978
Calhoun County (this page)	114	54.4%	40.4%	5.3%	1985
Lincoln County	110	57.3%	39.1%	3.6%	1986
Sharp County	110	38.2%	56.4%	5.5%	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 Calhoun 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 Calhoun County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (114 bridges here).

Schuyler County, IL · 114 bridges
Brown County, IN · 114 bridges
Morgan County, KY · 114 bridges
Dallas County, MO · 114 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (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 114 Good 62 Fair 46 Poor 6

All bridges (114)

Sort:

Calhoun County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Calhoun County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,992 vehicle crossings a day

37.7% of Calhoun County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Calhoun 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 (114)

Calhoun CR-38 Z-E

Calhoun CR 303 Z-C

SH 203 S-1 LM 0.74

Chambersville Rd.

Calhoun CR 35 Z-D

CALHOUN CR31 Z-D

Calhoun CR 87 SecB

SH 274 S-2 LM 3.35

SH 274 S-2 LM8.17

SH 274 S-2 LM 10.0

Calhoun CR 219 Z-B

Calhoun CR 72 Z-A

Calhoun CR 219 Z-B

Calhoun CR 54 Z-B

CR 172

Calhoun CoRd. #38

SH 203 S-1 LM 2.42

SH 274 S-3 LM20.49

SH 274 S-3 LM16.43

SH 205 S02 LM1.58

SH 203 S-1 LM 0.28

SH 203 S-1 LM 6.58

SH 274 S-3 LM10.53

SH 274 S-3 LM11.77

SH 274 S-3 LM17.00

SH 160 S-7 LM 6.59

US278 S11 LM 10.12

US 278 S-11LM9.67

US 278 S11 LM 9.19

CR 274 S-2

US278 S10 L12.33

US 278 S-11LM9.47

US 278 S-10 LM13.6

Calhoun CR 20

US 278 S10 LM 2.67

US278 S-10LM 14.12

SH 203 S-2 LM 7.35

US167 S-4 LM17.76

US 79 S-5 LM4.61SB

Calhoun CR 26 Z-D

Calhoun CR-81 Z-A

Calhoun CR 35 Z-D

CalhounCO RD5 Z-B

Calhoun CR 20 Z-C

CR172

SH203 S-2 LM 0.98

US 167 S-3 LM 5.04

SH 274 S-3 LM17.57

Calhoun CR # 131

Calhoun CR 85 Z-A

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