Total bridges
105
Public highway bridges in Fulton County
County profile · official public datasets
Fulton County, AR
105 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39% rated Good, 48.6% Fair, 12.4% Poor.
- 105
- Public bridges
- 39%
- Good condition
- 12.4%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Fulton County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.
- 69th
- of 75 on Poor share
- 12.4%
- Poor-condition share
- 105
- public highway bridges
- 1969
- 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.
Fulton County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Fulton County ranks #69 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.4%). Fulton County, Arkansas contains 105 public highway bridges. Roughly 39% are rated “Good,” 48.6% “Fair,” and 12.4% “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.
Good condition
39%
41 of 105 rated 7-9
Fair condition
48.6%
51 of 105 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.4%
13 of 105 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#69 of 75
Among Arkansas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 105 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 39% (41)
Fair 48.6% (51)
Poor 12.4% (13)
Fulton County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,848 vehicle crossings a day
That is 5.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 681 crossings a day against 1,718 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 105 of 105 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
59% of Fulton County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
62 of the 105 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 39% 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 13.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
SH 9/Fulton County over HARKLE ROAD CREEK, built 1926, carries 1,200 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 8,848 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Fulton County's bridges were built
105 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1910s 2
1910–1919
2 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
10 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
12 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
17 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
7 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
16 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
11 bridges
- 1990s 3
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
11 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
8 bridges
- 2020s 3
2020–2029
3 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 17 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1969, 11 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.
How Fulton County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Fulton County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.4% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1969 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is 14 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 74 Arkansas counties eligible for comparison.
| 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 |
| Izard County | 105 | 34.3% | 47.6% | 18.1% | 1981 |
| Fulton County (this page) | 105 | 39% | 48.6% | 12.4% | 1969 |
| Dallas County | 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 Fulton 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 Fulton County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AR (105 bridges here).
- Calaveras County, CA · 105 bridges
- Flagler County, FL · 105 bridges
- Sherman County, KS · 105 bridges
- Hillsdale County, MI · 105 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1969 here).
- Cook County, IL · avg 1969 · 1,721 bridges
- Fresno County, CA · avg 1969 · 916 bridges
- Cuyahoga County, OH · avg 1969 · 871 bridges
- Ventura County, CA · avg 1969 · 501 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (105)
CR 31/Fulton Co.
PoorOver: TRACE CREEK
5 M N OF US 62, Fulton, AR
Built 1947 Load: 12.7 t ADT: 310
CR 31/Fulton Co.
PoorOver: BAY CREEK
3.6MI E SH223, Fulton, AR
Built 1950 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 120
SH 9/Fulton County
PoorOver: CREEK
2.94 MI NE OF IZARD CO LI, Fulton, AR
Built 1926 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 1,200
SH 395/Fulton Co.
PoorOver: PINE HILL CREEK
3.1 MI N JCT SH 9 & 395, Fulton, AR
Built 1960 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 1,200
SH 289/Fulton Co.
PoorOver: MYATT CREEK
13.1 MI N JCT US 62, Fulton, AR
Built 1970 Load: 29.0 t ADT: 590
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.