County profile · official public datasets

Garland County, AR

319 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.3% rated Good, 55.8% Fair, 0.9% Poor.

319
Public bridges: 43.3%
Good condition: 0.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Garland County posts a top-5% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 4%
lowest Poor share in state: 0.9%
Poor-condition share: 319
public highway bridges: 1977
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.

Garland County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Garland County ranks #3 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0.9%). Garland County, Arkansas contains 319 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.3% are rated “Good,” 55.8% “Fair,” and 0.9% “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

319

Public highway bridges in Garland County

Good condition

43.3%

138 of 319 rated 7-9

Fair condition

55.8%

178 of 319 rated 5-6

Poor condition

0.9%

3 of 319 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#3 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 319 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.3% (138)

Fair

55.8% (178)

Poor

0.9% (3)

Garland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,699 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 0.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 566 crossings a day against 5,575 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 319 of 319 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.9% of Garland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

156 of the 319 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 43.3% 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 58.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

N. Pearcy CR 104 H over MAZARN CREEK, built 1970, carries 1,000 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 1,699 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

15
1930s

27
1940s

13
1950s

30
1960s

22
1970s

72
1980s

34
1990s

34
2000s

25
2010s

23
2020s

24

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 72 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1977) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Garland County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0.9% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1977 against a peer-group mean of 1984 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Garland County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
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
Garland County (this page)	319	43.3%	55.8%	0.9%	1977
Mississippi County	309	56.3%	34.3%	9.4%	1982
Union County	289	73%	26%	1%	1992

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (319 bridges here).

Mesa County, CO · 319 bridges
Adams County, IL · 319 bridges
Bates County, MO · 319 bridges
Clermont County, OH · 319 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1977 here).

San Diego County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,632 bridges
King County, WA · avg 1977 · 1,238 bridges
Riverside County, CA · avg 1977 · 1,117 bridges
Shelby County, TN · avg 1977 · 1,077 bridges

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

All 319 Good 138 Fair 178 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (138)

Sort:

Garland County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Garland County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,699 vehicle crossings a day

48.9% of Garland County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 58.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Garland 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 (138)

CR150/L Blkly Cr R

CR 118 - F

CR 79-D OLD DANVI

CR 64 Amity Rd.

Deer Park Rd.

FDR 11

CR 43-A GRANDSTAFF

CR125-G Oak Grove

US 70-8 Log 4.77

US 270-5 Log 3.96

ORANGE STREET

SH 227 Log 6.25

US 70-9 Log 6.31

230C

CR40440 College Dr

Hwy 270 Log 2.56

SH 298 Log 4.19

WB ON RAMP US 270

US270 Log 6.12

FDR 11

MCLEOD DRIVE

US 270-5 Log 22.67

SH 128-11 Log 8.45

CR 150

SH 298 Log 6.81

FDR 513

SH 227 Log 8.43

US 270-5 Log 10.37

US 270-5 Log 10.87

US 270-5 Log 11.41

US 70

CR 71-H PEARCY RD

SH 298 Log 9.95

Natural Springs Dr

Weston RD

SH 290-1 Log 2.20

70B FRONTAGE RD

SH 298 Log 14.25

SH 298 Log 15.66

SH 298 Log 8.29

SH 298 Log 11.42

SH 298 Log 16.42

SH 298 Log 0.66

SH 298 Log 2.19

SH 7 Log 4.02

US 270-5 Log 22.16

US 270-6 Log 1.66

SH 128 -10 Log 2.8

SH 298 Log 3.90

SH 128- Log 6.42

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