County profile · official public datasets

Jefferson County, AR

336 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 68.8% rated Good, 26.2% Fair, 5.1% Poor.

336
Public bridges: 68.8%
Good condition: 5.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Jefferson County pairs a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

40th
of 75 on Poor share: 5.1%
Poor-condition share: 336
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.

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Jefferson County ranks #40 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 5.1%). Jefferson County, Arkansas contains 336 public highway bridges. Roughly 68.8% are rated “Good,” 26.2% “Fair,” and 5.1% “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

336

Public highway bridges in Jefferson County

Good condition

68.8%

231 of 336 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26.2%

88 of 336 rated 5-6

Poor condition

5.1%

17 of 336 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#40 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 336 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

68.8% (231)

Fair

26.2% (88)

Poor

5.1% (17)

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,588 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 5.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 740 crossings a day against 4,069 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 336 of 336 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.3% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

75 of the 336 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 68.8% 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 28% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 79-09 LM 5.40 over Big Creek, built 1948, carries 3,519 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 17-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,588 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

16
1930s

4
1940s

5
1950s

18
1960s

14
1970s

41
1980s

13
1990s

153
2000s

40
2010s

28
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1990s, when 153 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 45.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 25 to 34 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1987, 7 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Jefferson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 5.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1987 against a peer-group mean of 1982 is 5 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Jefferson County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Jefferson County (this page)	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	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 Jefferson 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 Jefferson County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (336 bridges here).

Kane County, IL · 336 bridges
Tuscarawas County, OH · 336 bridges
Warren County, OH · 336 bridges
Charleston County, SC · 336 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 336 Good 231 Fair 88 Poor 17

Good-condition bridges (231)

Sort:

Jefferson County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Jefferson County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,588 vehicle crossings a day

22.3% of Jefferson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 28% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Jefferson 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 (231)

I-530 NB LM 33.77

I-530 NB LM 31.85

I-530 NB LM 23.76

I-530 SB LM 37.01

I-530 SB LM 38.29

I-530 SB LM 39.23

I-530 SB LM 39.55

I-530 SB LM 40.35

I-530 SB LM 40.93

I-530 SB LM 41.72

I-530 SB LM 42.05

I-530 SB LM 42.93

I-530 SB LM 43.08

I-530 SB LM 44.30

I-530 SB LM 45.59

I-530 SB LM 46.45

US 65 NB LM 10.39

US 65 NB LM 6.41

SH 530-06 LM 4.08

SH 530-06 LM 3.47

I-530 ON LM 42.92

I-530 OFF LM 42.93

I-530 FRT LM 45.58

US 63-13 LM 10.10

SH 11-05 LM 4.06

SH 54-09 LM 0.51

US 79-10 LM 6.80

RIDEOUT ROAD

PATROL ROAD

I-530 ML LM 30.49

I-530 ML LM 23.27

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