County profile · official public datasets

Craighead County, AR

442 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 65.8% rated Good, 31% Fair, 3.2% Poor.

442
Public bridges: 65.8%
Good condition: 3.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Craighead County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 32%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.2%
Poor-condition share: 442
public highway bridges: 1995
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.

Craighead County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Craighead County ranks #24 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.2%). Craighead County, Arkansas contains 442 public highway bridges. Roughly 65.8% are rated “Good,” 31% “Fair,” and 3.2% “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

442

Public highway bridges in Craighead County

Good condition

65.8%

291 of 442 rated 7-9

Fair condition

31%

137 of 442 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.2%

14 of 442 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#24 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 442 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

65.8% (291)

Fair

31% (137)

Poor

3.2% (14)

Craighead County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,106 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,936 crossings a day against 3,429 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 442 of 442 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

12% of Craighead County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

53 of the 442 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 65.8% 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 1-17- LM 6.66 over HIGGINBOTTOM CREEK, built 1973, carries 17,518 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 14-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 41,106 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1930s

10
1940s

3
1950s

8
1960s

17
1970s

47
1980s

46
1990s

124
2000s

94
2010s

67
2020s

26

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 124 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 28.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1995, 15 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Craighead County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.2% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1995 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 11 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Craighead County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Washington County	449	22.3%	70.8%	6.9%	1982
Craighead County (this page)	442	65.8%	31%	3.2%	1995
Benton County	410	49%	47.1%	3.9%	1992
Jefferson County	336	68.8%	26.2%	5.1%	1987
Sebastian County	331	34.4%	59.8%	5.7%	1979
White County	322	44.1%	50.6%	5.3%	1978

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (442 bridges here).

Erie County, PA · 442 bridges
Loudoun County, VA · 442 bridges
Imperial County, CA · 444 bridges
Licking County, OH · 439 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1995 here).

Williamson County, TX · avg 1995 · 1,170 bridges
Utah County, UT · avg 1995 · 271 bridges
DeSoto County, MS · avg 1995 · 266 bridges
Scotland County, MO · avg 1995 · 201 bridges

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

All 442 Good 291 Fair 137 Poor 14

Good-condition bridges (291)

Sort:

Craighead County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Craighead County's Poor-condition bridges carry 41,106 vehicle crossings a day

12% of Craighead County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Craighead 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 (291)

CR 96-B (911=510)

CR 62 D-911=766

Richardson Dr.SecH

LIMESTONE DRIVE

I-555 PARKER Rd

BORGMAN ST.- C

MCADAMS RD- C

SH 463

US 63-06- LM 5.26

SH 226-02-LM 1.39

SH 226-02-LM 7.02

US 49

ARROWHEAD FM RD-E

Washington Ave.

Covington Drive

Charleston Drive

US 63-06- LM 1.57

US 63-06- LM 5.40

SH 18-04- LM 14.84

SH 226-02-LM 3.70

SH 141-01- LM 9.15

SH 18-04-LM 23.99

SH 18 LM 19.06

SH 18 LM 20.35

SH 18 -04-LM21.78

US 63 FRONT. RD. N

SH 91-02-LM 15.59

SH 18-04-LM 5.90

Caraway Rd. (H)

US 49 Side Ent.

SH 226-02-LM 8.7

GREENBRIAR STREET

NESTLE RD- I

SH 91-02- LM 13.93

SH 91-02- LM 11.4

US 63-06- LM 2.24

US 63-06- LM 3.33

SH 226-02-LM 13.41

STROUD STREET

RACE ST

KATHLEEN ST-C

Caraway Road - H

Clinton School Rd

SH 226-02 LM 2.91

SH 226-02 LM 2.95

SH 226-02-LM 2.91

SH. 226-02-LM 2.95

SH 18-04-LM 9.81

I-555 SB OFF RAMP

W Parker Road

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