County profile · official public datasets

Faulkner County, AR

219 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.6% rated Good, 42% Fair, 1.4% Poor.

219
Public bridges: 56.6%
Good condition: 1.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Faulkner County pairs a top-quartile lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 11%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.4%
Poor-condition share: 219
public highway bridges: 1987
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.

Faulkner County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Faulkner County ranks #8 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.4%). Faulkner County, Arkansas contains 219 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.6% are rated “Good,” 42% “Fair,” and 1.4% “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

219

Public highway bridges in Faulkner County

Good condition

56.6%

124 of 219 rated 7-9

Fair condition

42%

92 of 219 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.4%

3 of 219 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#8 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 219 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.6% (124)

Fair

42% (92)

Poor

1.4% (3)

Faulkner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,339 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,113 crossings a day against 6,467 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 219 of 219 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

29.7% of Faulkner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

65 of the 219 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 56.6% 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 41.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Round Mt. Rd over Gold Creek, built 1939, carries 1,400 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 3,339 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

7
1940s

1
1950s

14
1960s

33
1970s

26
1980s

33
1990s

32
2000s

18
2010s

41
2020s

12

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2010s, when 41 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 5 to 14 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 7 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Faulkner County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.4% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 10 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Faulkner County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Saline County	231	56.7%	39.4%	3.9%	1990
Yell County	227	54.6%	44.1%	1.3%	1971
Hot Spring County	222	22.1%	73%	5%	1972
Polk County	221	20.8%	66.5%	12.7%	1965
Faulkner County (this page)	219	56.6%	42%	1.4%	1987
Miller County	216	64.4%	32.9%	2.8%	1986

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (219 bridges here).

Bartow County, GA · 219 bridges
McMinn County, TN · 219 bridges
Bibb County, GA · 220 bridges
Decatur County, IN · 220 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1987 here).

St. Louis County, MO · avg 1987 · 912 bridges
Ellis County, TX · avg 1987 · 691 bridges
St. Louis County, MN · avg 1987 · 663 bridges
Palm Beach County, FL · avg 1987 · 610 bridges

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

All 219 Good 124 Fair 92 Poor 3

All bridges (219)

Sort:

Faulkner County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Faulkner County's Poor-condition bridges carry 3,339 vehicle crossings a day

29.7% of Faulkner County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 41.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Faulkner 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 (219)

SH 287

Republican Rd

S. German Ln.

Garret Rd

SH 285

Blythe Rd

N. Museum Rd.

Salem Road

Republican Rd

SH 60

SH 319

SH 36

SH 36

SH 285

SH 285

US 64

Stanley Road

Lollie Rd

US 64

N Church Street

SH 107

SH 89

US 64

Garland Springs Rd

SH 285

Hogan Rd.

College Street

Burkett Flat Rd.

SH 287

SH 36

US 64B

Prince Drive

W Tyler St.

Fairview Rd.

SH 287

SH 25

Shaw Bridge Rd

Wilson Bottoms Rd

Bob Courtway Rd.

Shaw Bridge Rd

Mallet Town Rd

CR 39 / Blair Rd.

SH 107

SH 60

SH 36

SH 25

SH 36

Clinton Rd

170 / Ridge Rd

SH 60

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