County profile · official public datasets

Carroll County, AR

119 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 47.1% rated Good, 50.4% Fair, 2.5% Poor.

119
Public bridges: 47.1%
Good condition: 2.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Carroll County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 20%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.5%
Poor-condition share: 119
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Carroll County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Carroll County ranks #15 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.5%). Carroll County, Arkansas contains 119 public highway bridges. Roughly 47.1% are rated “Good,” 50.4% “Fair,” and 2.5% “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

119

Public highway bridges in Carroll County

Good condition

47.1%

56 of 119 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.4%

60 of 119 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.5%

3 of 119 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#15 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 119 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

47.1% (56)

Fair

50.4% (60)

Poor

2.5% (3)

Carroll County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,864 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,621 crossings a day against 2,648 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 119 of 119 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

47.1% of Carroll County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

56 of the 119 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 47.1% 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 37% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 21 Carroll over DRY FORK CREEK, built 1960, carries 1,801 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 4,864 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

1
1930s

10
1940s

14
1950s

12
1960s

15
1970s

6
1980s

7
1990s

30
2000s

12
2010s

9
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 5 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Carroll County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.5% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Carroll County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Conway County	122	53.3%	46.7%	0%	1974
Grant County	119	68.9%	29.4%	1.7%	1980
Carroll County (this page)	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	114	54.4%	40.4%	5.3%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (119 bridges here).

Stafford County, KS · 119 bridges
Grayson County, KY · 119 bridges
Ionia County, MI · 119 bridges
Laclede County, MO · 119 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 119 Good 56 Fair 60 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (60)

Sort:

Carroll County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Carroll County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,864 vehicle crossings a day

47.1% of Carroll County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 37% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Carroll 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 (60)

CR 933 Carroll

CR 933 Carroll

CR 173 Carroll

CR 982 Carroll

CR 173 Carroll

CR 233 Carroll

CR 422 Carroll

CR 302 Carroll

CR 613 Carroll

CR 425 Carroll

SH 187 Carroll Co

CR 135 Carroll

CR 3 Carroll

CR 524 Carroll

CR 219 Carroll

CR 814 Carroll

CR 306 Carroll

CR 512 Carroll

CR 995 Carroll

SH 221 Carroll

SH 103 Carroll

Lucerne Rd. (city)

CR 601 Carroll

US 62 Carroll

US 62 Carroll

SH 187 Carroll

Carroll SH 103

US 62 Carroll

SH 23 Carroll

SH 21 Carroll

Carroll US 412

Lake Lucerne Rd

CR 204 City Eureka

CR 995 Carroll

SH 143 Carroll

SH 221 Carroll

CR 811 Carroll

SH 221 Carroll

US 62 Carroll

SH 23 Carroll

SH 21 Carroll

City of Eu SprsTrl

CR 614 Carroll

SH 21 Carroll

SH 21 Carroll

SH 21 Carroll

CR 625

SH 103 Carroll

SH 143 Carroll

US 62 S-5 Carroll

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