County profile · official public datasets

Hot Spring County, AR

222 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.1% rated Good, 73% Fair, 5% Poor.

222
Public bridges: 22.1%
Good condition: 5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hot Spring 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.

39th
of 75 on Poor share: 5%
Poor-condition share: 222
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Hot Spring County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hot Spring County ranks #39 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5%). Hot Spring County, Arkansas contains 222 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.1% are rated “Good,” 73% “Fair,” and 5% “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

222

Public highway bridges in Hot Spring County

Good condition

22.1%

49 of 222 rated 7-9

Fair condition

73%

162 of 222 rated 5-6

Poor condition

11 of 222 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#39 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 222 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

22.1% (49)

Fair

73% (162)

Poor

5% (11)

Hot Spring County's Poor-condition bridges carry 59,399 vehicle crossings a day

That is 6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 5,400 crossings a day against 2,523 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 222 of 222 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

51.8% of Hot Spring County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

115 of the 222 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 22.1% 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 30.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 270B Log 2.23 over FRONT ST UPRR &1ST, built 1955, carries 18,000 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 11-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 59,399 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

2
1920s

27
1930s

12
1950s

14
1960s

58
1970s

8
1980s

34
1990s

35
2000s

21
2010s

5
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 58 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1972, 8 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Hot Spring County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1980 is 8 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hot Spring 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 (this page)	222	22.1%	73%	5%	1972
Polk County	221	20.8%	66.5%	12.7%	1965
Faulkner County	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 Hot Spring 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 Hot Spring County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (222 bridges here).

Daviess County, MO · 222 bridges
Woodford County, IL · 223 bridges
Ford County, KS · 223 bridges
Hardin County, KY · 223 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 222 Good 49 Fair 162 Poor 11

Fair-condition bridges (162)

Sort:

Hot Spring County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hot Spring County's Poor-condition bridges carry 59,399 vehicle crossings a day

51.8% of Hot Spring County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 30.3% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hot Spring 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

Fair-condition bridges (162)

US 67 log 4.60

US 67-8 Log 6.10

CR 72 C/Red Wagon

BANKS STREET

SH 51-4 Log 3.45

SH 7-8 Log 8.58

US 67 Log 17.25

US 67-8 Log 8.30

SH 9 log 16.72

CR 606-E Sycamore

CR 6-F FINCH RD

SH 51-4 Log 6.19

US 70-7 Log 2.62

CR 5 F Shouse Ford

CR 801-G Camp Rd

CR 15 Midway road

CR 30 Grigsby Ford

SH 84- 6 Log 21.05

US 270-SEC 7B

SH 171 log 0.00

SH 347-2 Log 5.17

US 270B-7 Log 2.07

US 270 -7 Log 0.55

SH 7 LM 12.52

SH 7 LM 13.30

US 270-7 Log 2.85

US 270-7 Log 4.63

US 270 -7 Log 5.10

US 270 Log 4.00

CR 75-C Sand Road

CR 36-A Lower Etta

CR 78-D BAROID RD

CR 14-E Antioch Rd

CR 60-B/COUNTRY CL

CR 68/C Dixonville

CR10-Rainbow Rd

CR26-F Sunflower

CR 22-E Owassa Tr

CR 78-D Gourdneck

CR 80-C Cooper Rd

CR47-A Round Tree

CR 489/C Glen Rose

CR 61-B/SULPHUR SP

CR 6 Finch Rd.

I-30 WB Log 105.28

I-30 WB Log 97.06

I-30 WB Log 103.69

I 30-SEC 21 WB

I-30 WB Log 104.52

I-30 WB Log 84.11

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