County profile · official public datasets

Dallas County, AR

103 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.3% rated Good, 38.8% Fair, 4.9% Poor.

103
Public bridges: 56.3%
Good condition: 4.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Dallas County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

38th
of 75 on Poor share: 4.9%
Poor-condition share: 103
public highway bridges: 1980
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.

Dallas County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Dallas County ranks #38 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.9%). Dallas County, Arkansas contains 103 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.3% are rated “Good,” 38.8% “Fair,” and 4.9% “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

103

Public highway bridges in Dallas County

Good condition

56.3%

58 of 103 rated 7-9

Fair condition

38.8%

40 of 103 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.9%

5 of 103 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#38 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 103 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.3% (58)

Fair

38.8% (40)

Poor

4.9% (5)

Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,927 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,385 crossings a day against 1,584 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 103 of 103 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

41.7% of Dallas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

43 of the 103 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 56.3% 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 88% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US79B-S6/B LM 2.39 over CRI&P RR, built 1949, carries 6,094 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 5-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 6,927 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1940s

2
1950s

22
1960s

4
1970s

11
1980s

12
1990s

9
2000s

17
2010s

17
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 22 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1980) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Dallas County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1980 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Dallas County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Ashley County	106	63.2%	35.8%	0.9%	1981
Bradley County	105	58.1%	38.1%	3.8%	1988
Fulton County	105	39%	48.6%	12.4%	1969
Izard County	105	34.3%	47.6%	18.1%	1981
Dallas County (this page)	103	56.3%	38.8%	4.9%	1980
Phillips County	101	37.6%	40.6%	21.8%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (103 bridges here).

Kenai Peninsula County, AK · 103 bridges
Morgan County, GA · 103 bridges
Rawlins County, KS · 103 bridges
Lawrence County, KY · 103 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1980 here).

Tulsa County, OK · avg 1980 · 1,135 bridges
Miami-Dade County, FL · avg 1980 · 1,057 bridges
McLennan County, TX · avg 1980 · 714 bridges
Hinds County, MS · avg 1980 · 663 bridges

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

All 103 Good 58 Fair 40 Poor 5

All bridges (103)

Sort:

Dallas County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Dallas County's Poor-condition bridges carry 6,927 vehicle crossings a day

41.7% of Dallas County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 88% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Dallas 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 (103)

Dallas CR 438 Z-E

Dallas Cr 55 Z-A

SH 9 S-2 LM 10.40

US 79B S-6 LM 2.93

SH 48 S-1 LM 6.97

SH48 S-1 LM7.31

SH 7 S-5 LM 9.64

SH 8 S-6 LM 5.24

SH48 Sec1 LM 7.128

Dallas CR 64 Z-A

Dallas CR 55 S-A

SH 229 S-O LM 3.38

SH 128 S-1 LM 4.17

SH 8 S-6 LM 5.13

SH 9 S-2 LM 1.12

SH 9 S-2 LM 9.67

SH 48 S-1 LM 5.15

SH 207 S-O LM 2.26

SH 128 S-1 LM10.74

SH 128 S-1 LM 9.33

SH48Sec1Lm12.76

US 79 S-6 LM 7.14

US 79 S-6 LM 7.36

SH 8 S-6 LM 12.19

SH 8 S-6 LM 16.24

SH 274 S-4 LM 0.86

SH128Sec1Lm3.60

Dallas CR 41 Z-E

US 79 S-6 LM 1.02

SH 229 S-O LM 6.92

SH 273 S-1 LM 4.15

SH 229 S-O LM 1.25

SH 229 S-0 LM 3.13

US79-S-6 LM3.42 SB

Dallas CR 206 Z-E

Dallas CR 206 Z-E

SH 273 S-2 LM 1.86

SH 273 S-1 LM 7.55

US 79 SEC 6 NB LN

SH 7 S-5 LM11.89

Dallas CR 68 Z-C

Dallas CR 55 Z-A

Dallas Cr 8 Z-D

Dallas CR 58 Z-A

SH 7 S-5 LM 8.94

SH 7 S-5 LM 9.24

SH 7 S-5 LM 9.82

SH 7 S-5 LM 9.45

SH 9 S-3 LM 1.370

SH 7 S-5 LM 3.86

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