County profile · official public datasets

Cleveland County, AR

79 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 48.1% rated Good, 46.8% Fair, 5.1% Poor.

79
Public bridges: 48.1%
Good condition: 5.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

41st
of 75 on Poor share: 5.1%
Poor-condition share: 79
public highway bridges: 1970
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.

Cleveland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cleveland County ranks #41 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.1%). Cleveland County, Arkansas contains 79 public highway bridges. Roughly 48.1% are rated “Good,” 46.8% “Fair,” and 5.1% “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 Cleveland County

Good condition

48.1%

38 of 79 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46.8%

37 of 79 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.1%

4 of 79 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#41 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 79 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

48.1% (38)

Fair

46.8% (37)

Poor

5.1% (4)

Cleveland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,755 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 439 crossings a day against 1,185 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 79 of 79 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

58.2% of Cleveland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

46 of the 79 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 48.1% 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 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 35 S-4 LM 6.60 over DERISAUX RELIEF, built 1956, carries 630 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,755 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

7
1930s

4
1940s

6
1950s

15
1960s

12
1970s

3
1980s

16
1990s

6
2000s

2
2010s

3
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 16 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1970, 10 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Cleveland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1970 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Cleveland County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Monroe County	85	55.3%	37.6%	7.1%	1975
Desha County	83	55.4%	39.8%	4.8%	1984
Little River County	83	54.2%	38.6%	7.2%	1979
Woodruff County	79	40.5%	51.9%	7.6%	1976
Cleveland County (this page)	79	48.1%	46.8%	5.1%	1970
Stone County	73	39.7%	47.9%	12.3%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (79 bridges here).

Barrow County, GA · 79 bridges
Edwards County, IL · 79 bridges
Grant County, KY · 79 bridges
Mora County, NM · 79 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1970 here).

Hamilton County, OH · avg 1970 · 783 bridges
Yavapai County, AZ · avg 1970 · 543 bridges
Garfield County, OK · avg 1970 · 504 bridges
San Luis Obispo County, CA · avg 1970 · 401 bridges

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

All 79 Good 38 Fair 37 Poor 4

Good-condition bridges (38)

Sort:

Cleveland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Cleveland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,755 vehicle crossings a day

58.2% of Cleveland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 35.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Cleveland 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

Good-condition bridges (38)

SH 8 S-10 LM 8.81

US 167 S-8 LM 7.29

US 79 S-7 LM 0.73

US 79 S-7 LM 0.91

SH 114

US 167 S-8 LM 1.56

Clev. CR 176 Z-B

Clev Co Rt 87 B

Cleve. CR 93 Z-B

Clev CR 212 Z-D

Clev. CR 89 Z-B

Cleve CR 47 Z-A

US63 S-15 LM 0.86

AR Hwy 133

SH 189 S-1 LM 3.27

SH 189 S-1 LM11.15

AR Hwy 133

AR Hwy 133

SH 8 S-10 LM 7.67

SH 189 S-1 LM 4.53

SH 189 S-1 LM 7.89

Clev. CR 73 Z-C

Moores Chr rd Co73

Ar Hwy 212

US63 S-15 LM 24.73

US 63 S-15 LM25.7

Cleve. CR 56 Z-A

Cleve. CR 56 Z-A

SH 114 S-0 LM 2.81

SH 114 S-0 LM 3.12

SH 114 S-0 LM 9.88

SH 114 S-0 LM 10.0

SH 114 S-0 LM 11.2

SH 212 S-1 LM 2.38

US167 S-8 LM 0.21

SH212 S1 LM 2.77

SH 114 S-0 LM 2.51

SH 114 S-O LM 4.40

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