County profile · official public datasets

Columbia County, AR

131 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 54.2% rated Good, 43.5% Fair, 2.3% Poor.

131
Public bridges: 54.2%
Good condition: 2.3%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Columbia County posts a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 17%
lowest Poor share in state: 2.3%
Poor-condition share: 131
public highway bridges: 1983
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.

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Columbia County ranks #13 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 2.3%). Columbia County, Arkansas contains 131 public highway bridges. Roughly 54.2% are rated “Good,” 43.5% “Fair,” and 2.3% “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

131

Public highway bridges in Columbia County

Good condition

54.2%

71 of 131 rated 7-9

Fair condition

43.5%

57 of 131 rated 5-6

Poor condition

2.3%

3 of 131 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#13 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 131 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

54.2% (71)

Fair

43.5% (57)

Poor

2.3% (3)

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,320 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 2.3% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 773 crossings a day against 1,282 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 131 of 131 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

39.7% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

52 of the 131 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 54.2% 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 47.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 98 S-1 LM 5.21 over BIG CREEK, built 1936, carries 1,100 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 2,320 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

13
1940s

2
1950s

18
1960s

10
1970s

8
1980s

9
1990s

15
2000s

30
2010s

11
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1983) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Columbia County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 2.3% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1983 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Columbia County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jackson County	136	49.3%	42.6%	8.1%	1977
Nevada County	133	38.3%	57.1%	4.5%	1974
Columbia County (this page)	131	54.2%	43.5%	2.3%	1983
Cross County	129	38%	50.4%	11.6%	1979
Lawrence County	126	55.6%	35.7%	8.7%	1979
Conway County	122	53.3%	46.7%	0%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (131 bridges here).

Laurel County, KY · 131 bridges
Franklin County, LA · 131 bridges
Wright County, MO · 131 bridges
Lincoln County, NM · 131 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1983 here).

Dallas County, TX · avg 1983 · 3,230 bridges
Bexar County, TX · avg 1983 · 2,342 bridges
Sedgwick County, KS · avg 1983 · 1,333 bridges
Will County, IL · avg 1983 · 649 bridges

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

All 131 Good 71 Fair 57 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (71)

Sort:

Columbia County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Columbia County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,320 vehicle crossings a day

39.7% of Columbia County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 47.4% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Columbia 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 (71)

Col.GreeneSt. Z-D

US 371 S-7 LM6.25

SH 98 S-3 LM 4.36

CR 16 ZONE A

Col.Co.Rd 60 Z-D

SH 57 S-2 LM 5.02

SH 57 S-2 LM 5.68

Col. CR 8 ZONE H

Col. CR 43 ZONE D

US 79 S2 LM7.70

CO RD 40

US79 S-1 LM 10.24

US 371 S-7 LM14.28

US 371 S-7 LM6.40

Col. CoRd 60 Z-D

Col. CoRD10 ZoneH

Col.CoRd 34 Z-B

Col. Co Rd 1 Z-E

Col. CR 36 ZONE C

Col. CR 34 ZONE B

Columbia CR14 Z-A

US 79 S2 LM 8 .24

US 79 S-1 LM 8.41

SH 98 S-3 LM 6.06

Magnolia DudneyRD

Columb. CR 11 Z-A

Col. Co.Rd. 36 Z-C

CR 79

US 371 S7 LM 24.06

US 82 S-3 LM 10.63

CR 278

Columbia CR 66 Z-C

Col. CR 38 Z-C

Ar Hwy 98

US 371 S7 LM 22.09

Col.CR 50 Z-E

CO RD 15 ZONE F

Col. Co Rd 40 Z-B

Col. CR 36 Z-C

Col. CR 36 Z-C

Col. Co Rd 7 Z-H

Col. CR 12 Z-F

US 371 LM12.88 S-7

US 371 LM12.71 S-7

US 371 LM12.34 S-7

SH 344 S-1 LM3.20

US 371 SEC 6 LM9.7

US 371 SEC 6 LM9.6

SH 19 S1 LM 7.58

SH 19 S-1 LM 7.67

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