County profile · official public datasets

Howard County, AR

116 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 40.5% rated Good, 56% Fair, 3.4% Poor.

116
Public bridges: 40.5%
Good condition: 3.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 37%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.4%
Poor-condition share: 116
public highway bridges: 1978
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.

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Howard County ranks #28 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.4%). Howard County, Arkansas contains 116 public highway bridges. Roughly 40.5% are rated “Good,” 56% “Fair,” and 3.4% “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

116

Public highway bridges in Howard County

Good condition

40.5%

47 of 116 rated 7-9

Fair condition

56%

65 of 116 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.4%

4 of 116 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#28 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 116 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

40.5% (47)

Fair

56% (65)

Poor

3.4% (4)

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,481 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 370 crossings a day against 2,008 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 116 of 116 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

42.2% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

49 of the 116 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 40.5% 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

US 278-SEC 2- 4.55 over COSSATOT RIVER, built 1965, carries 620 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,481 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

9
1950s

9
1960s

12
1970s

26
1980s

15
1990s

21
2000s

15
2010s

1
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 22.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Howard County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Howard County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Conway County	122	53.3%	46.7%	0%	1974
Carroll County	119	47.1%	50.4%	2.5%	1975
Grant County	119	68.9%	29.4%	1.7%	1980
Perry County	118	60.2%	38.1%	1.7%	1968
Howard County (this page)	116	40.5%	56%	3.4%	1978
Calhoun County	114	54.4%	40.4%	5.3%	1985

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (116 bridges here).

Cassia County, ID · 116 bridges
Worth County, IA · 116 bridges
Sheridan County, KS · 116 bridges
Caldwell County, KY · 116 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1978 here).

Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges

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

All 116 Good 47 Fair 65 Poor 4

All bridges (116)

Sort:

Howard County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Howard County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,481 vehicle crossings a day

42.2% of Howard County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

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

How Howard 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 (116)

C.R-12; MT CARMEL

longview-35-B-1.97

CR 179/KEITH RD

CR 411

C.R.293-JAMISON RD

CR279(Dillard CrkR

C.R.277 GARNER RD.

ROCKCREEK263B-0.32

2ND STREET

C.R.17 CO. LINE RD

C.R.5-A(BUCKRANGE)

CO RD 812 (KIRBY R

CR 29 (GREENE PLAI

CR.10(YORKS CHAPEL

C.R. 12 (MT CARMEL

CO RD 22; FAULKNER

C.R. 8 - B- 2.41

SH 246 SEC.02-3.20

CR2/BRIGHT STAR Rd

C.R 6(BLUFF SPRING

US.70 SEC. 03-4.12

CR 292 CHAPEL HILL

CR 405 PLEASANT V.

SH 355 - 01- 7.42

US 278 SEC.02-8.40

US 278 -02- 21.07

C.R. 18 MUDDY FORK

US 70 SEC.03-12.80

SH 27 SEC. 02-7.36

E. SHEPPARD ST

US 278 -02- 22.16

C.R. 17 (CO. LINE

C.R.292(C)CHAPEL

US 70 SEC.03 -2.81

SO. SHERMAN STREET

US 70 - 03-8.99

SH 355 - 01-1.37

CR2/BRIGHT STAR RD

CR 1 CORN BRIDGE

US 278 SEC.2-12.88

SH 369 - 01-11.10

SH 84 SEC. 01-4.87

C.R.291(THOMAS RD)

SH 84 SEC. 01-5.18

SH 369 SEC.01-4.41

SH 369 SEC.01-5.65

SH 980 SEC.25-2.74

US 371 -02 - 8.74

C.R. 17 (HARDING R

OLD AIR PORT RD.

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