County profile · official public datasets

Clay County, AR

200 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.5% rated Good, 47% Fair, 9.5% Poor.

200
Public bridges: 43.5%
Good condition: 9.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Clay 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.

65th
of 75 on Poor share: 9.5%
Poor-condition share: 200
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Clay County ranks #65 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.5%). Clay County, Arkansas contains 200 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.5% are rated “Good,” 47% “Fair,” and 9.5% “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

200

Public highway bridges in Clay County

Good condition

43.5%

87 of 200 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47%

94 of 200 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.5%

19 of 200 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#65 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 200 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.5% (87)

Fair

47% (94)

Poor

9.5% (19)

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,329 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 491 crossings a day against 922 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 200 of 200 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

24.5% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 200 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 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 62-20- LM 2.58 over BLACK RIVER, built 1956, carries 4,200 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 19-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,329 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

1
1940s

8
1950s

14
1960s

15
1970s

12
1980s

17
1990s

54
2000s

52
2010s

13
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 54 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 7 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Clay County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 12 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Clay County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clark County	202	43.1%	54%	3%	1974
St. Francis County	202	34.7%	58.9%	6.4%	1974
Clay County (this page)	200	43.5%	47%	9.5%	1987
Montgomery County	199	40.2%	57.8%	2%	1975
Scott County	198	26.8%	66.7%	6.6%	1971
Poinsett County	194	41.8%	42.3%	16%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (200 bridges here).

Escambia County, AL · 200 bridges
Parke County, IN · 200 bridges
Fayette County, KY · 200 bridges
Eaton County, MI · 200 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 200 Good 87 Fair 94 Poor 19

All bridges (200)

Sort:

Clay County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Clay County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,329 vehicle crossings a day

24.5% of Clay County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 45% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Clay 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 (200)

CR 492B - I

CR 522 - A

CR 432 - I

CR 148 - E

CR 232-D (911=329)

CR 152 - E

F ENT 141-05-4.12

CR204-C (911=342)

CR 450 - I

CR 276 - H

CR 478 - I

CR 90-C (911=346)

CR 131 - E

CR 316 - D

CR 485 - I

CR 536 - B

CR 94-C (911=352)

CR 430 - I

CR 234 - H

CR 420 - I

CR 408 - H

CR 341 - C

CR 51-D (911=310)

CR 445 - D

CR 197 - E

CR 197 - E

CR 63-C 911=344

CR 520 - A

CR 477 - D

W CHERRY ST.

CR 461 - D

CR 234 - H

CR 197 - E

CR 528 - B

CR 481 - I

CR 431 - I

CR 543 - B Rt 83

CR 39-H (911=406)

CR 39-H (911= 406)

W COURT ST.

W MAIN ST.

CR 243 - D

CR39-H (911=406)

US 62-20- LM 0.63

CR 508 - A

US 67-20- LM 12.83

SH 119-06- LM 0.78

CR 508 - A

CR 181 - E

CR 415 - H

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