Total bridges
129
Public highway bridges in Cross County
County profile · official public datasets
Cross County, AR
129 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38% rated Good, 50.4% Fair, 11.6% Poor.
- 129
- Public bridges
- 38%
- Good condition
- 11.6%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Cross County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.
- 67th
- of 75 on Poor share
- 11.6%
- Poor-condition share
- 129
- public highway bridges
- 1979
- 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.
Cross County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Cross County ranks #67 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 11.6%). Cross County, Arkansas contains 129 public highway bridges. Roughly 38% are rated “Good,” 50.4% “Fair,” and 11.6% “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.
Good condition
38%
49 of 129 rated 7-9
Fair condition
50.4%
65 of 129 rated 5-6
Poor condition
11.6%
15 of 129 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#67 of 75
Among Arkansas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 129 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 38% (49)
Fair 50.4% (65)
Poor 11.6% (15)
Cross County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,088 vehicle crossings a day
That is 6.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 11.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 873 crossings a day against 1,639 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 129 of 129 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
52.7% of Cross County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
68 of the 129 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 38% 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 33.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
Sh-1/Sec-14/L10.02 over Wolfe Creek, built 1950, carries 4,400 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 15-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 13,088 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Cross County's bridges were built
129 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
15 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
28 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
27 bridges
- 1980s 9
1980–1989
9 bridges
- 1990s 10
1990–1999
10 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
15 bridges
- 2010s 10
2010–2019
10 bridges
- 2020s 8
2020–2029
8 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Arkansas average (1980).
How Cross County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Cross County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 11.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 74 Arkansas counties eligible for comparison.
| 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 | 131 | 54.2% | 43.5% | 2.3% | 1983 |
| Cross County (this page) | 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 Cross 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 Cross County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AR (129 bridges here).
- Clay County, AL · 129 bridges
- Lake County, CA · 129 bridges
- Lincoln County, CO · 129 bridges
- Martin County, FL · 129 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1979 here).
- Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
- Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
- Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
- McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Fair-condition bridges (65)
Sh-1/Sec-14/L-4.14
FairOver: Drainage Ditch
4.14 Mi No Jct Of Us 64, Cross, AR
Built 1966 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 5,600
Cr-231/Z-E/L-4.3
FairOver: Prairie Creek
1.2 Mi South Of Jct Sh 42, Cross, AR
Built 1974 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 510
Sh-42/Sec-3/L-8.25
FairOver: St.Francis Bay
8.25 Mi Se Of Jct Sh 1, Cross, AR
Built 1970 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 420
Sh-163/Sec-1/L1.80
FairOver: Coppers Creek
.3 Mi So Us 64 & SH 163, Cross, AR
Built 1985 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 260
Sh-1/Sec-13/L-0.42
FairOver: Lick Creek
0.43 Mi No St Francis Cty, Cross, AR
Built 2004 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 8,899
Sh-1/Sec-13/L-2.37
FairOver: Bear Pen Creek
2.37 Mi No St Francis Cty, Cross, AR
Built 2004 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 8,880
Sh-1/Sec-13/L-3.19
FairOver: Section Line Ditch
3.19 Mi N St Francis Cty, Cross, AR
Built 2004 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 10,000
Cr-231/Z-E/L-4.45
FairOver: Creek
4.45 Mi Nw Jct Cr 29 &Sh1, Cross, AR
Built 1974 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 17
Cr-747/Z-H/L-4.6
FairOver: Lick Creek
2 Miles East Of Sh 1, Cross, AR
Built 1999 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 52
Cr-152/Z-F/L-3.51
FairOver: Drainage Ditch
1.1 Miles East Jct Us 49, Cross, AR
Built 2000 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 70
Cr-205/Z-F/L-1.75
FairOver: Languille Drainage
1.75 North Of Jct Sh 42, Cross, AR
Built 2000 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 40
Sh-364/Sec-1/L7.50
FairOver: Branch
1.3 Mi East Of Jct Sh 193, Cross, AR
Built 1972 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 350
Sh-163/Sec-2/L1.17
FairOver: Ditch Number 13
1.17 Miles North Of Us 64, Cross, AR
Built 1952 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 950
Sh-75/Sec-4/L-4.67
FairOver: Fourtune Slough
4.67 mi N of Jct Sh 42, Cross, AR
Built 1980 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 130
Sh-284/Sec1/L13.99
FairOver: Branch of Caney Creek
2.4 Miles West Jct Sh 1, Cross, AR
Built 2016 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,200
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.