County profile · official public datasets

Lee County, AR

94 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 38.3% rated Good, 48.9% Fair, 12.8% Poor.

94
Public bridges: 38.3%
Good condition: 12.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Lee County posts a higher-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.

71st
of 75 on Poor share: 12.8%
Poor-condition share: 94
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Lee County ranks #71 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.8%). Lee County, Arkansas contains 94 public highway bridges. Roughly 38.3% are rated “Good,” 48.9% “Fair,” and 12.8% “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

Public highway bridges in Lee County

Good condition

38.3%

36 of 94 rated 7-9

Fair condition

48.9%

46 of 94 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.8%

12 of 94 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#71 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 94 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

38.3% (36)

Fair

48.9% (46)

Poor

12.8% (12)

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,352 vehicle crossings a day

That is 14.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 779 crossings a day against 789 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 94 of 94 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.2% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

35 of the 94 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 38.3% 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 23.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Us-79/Sec15/L13.33 over Cat Creek, built 1949, carries 2,200 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 12-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 9,352 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

3
1940s

4
1950s

12
1960s

8
1970s

20
1980s

23
1990s

5
2000s

6
2010s

9
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 23 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Lee County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.8% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 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 Lee County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Boone County	98	54.1%	42.9%	3.1%	1971
Van Buren County	98	44.9%	48%	7.1%	1979
Pike County	95	36.8%	60%	3.2%	1975
Lee County (this page)	94	38.3%	48.9%	12.8%	1979
Baxter County	91	62.6%	37.4%	0%	1984
Chicot County	88	40.9%	50%	9.1%	1973

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (94 bridges here).

Yukon-Koyukuk County, AK · 94 bridges
Huerfano County, CO · 94 bridges
Henry County, KY · 94 bridges
Pendleton County, KY · 94 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 94 Good 36 Fair 46 Poor 12

All bridges (94)

Sort:

Lee County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Lee County's Poor-condition bridges carry 9,352 vehicle crossings a day

37.2% of Lee County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 23.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Lee 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 (94)

Cr-603/Z-B/L-2.01

Cr-803/Z-F/L-0.53

Sh-121/Sec-2/L8.96

Sh-121/Sec2/L12.35

Cr-221/Z-D/L-0.12

Cr-221/Z-D/L-0.92

Cr-907/Z-H/L-3.80

Sh-261/Sec-1/1.61

Cr-119/Z-I/L-0.82

Cr-925/Z-H/L-7.07

Cr-239/Z-D/L-9.91

Cr-224/Z-D/L-1.02

Cr-234/Z-D/L1.21

Cr-333/Z-E/L-3.34

Cr-807/Z-F/L-4.91

Cr-803/Z-F/L-5.09

Cr-119/Z-I/L-1.81

Sh-261/Sec-1/L1.23

Sh-78/Sec-2/L11.39

Sh-121/Sec-3/L6.08

Sh-121/Sec3/L14.4

Us-79/Sec-15/L4.29

Sh-1/Sec-10/4.61

Sh-131/Sec-1/L1.78

Sh-1/Sec-9/L-0.09

Sh-78/Sec-3/L-3.99

Sh-1/Sec-10/L-6.03

Sh-1/Sec-10/L-5.95

Sh-1/Sec-9/L-8.83

Sh-238/Sec-2/L8.71

Sh-78/Sec-3/L0.59

Sh-78/Sec-3/L-2.94

Sh-259/Sec-1/L3.13

Cr-116/Z-I/L-7.55

Cr-108/Z-I/L-3.57

Us-79/Sec-15/L6.77

Sh-121/Sec-2/L7.19

Us-79/Sec-15/L2.88

Sh-78/Sec-2/L-6.57

Us-79/Sec15/L13.33

Us-79/Sec-15/L1.86

Us-79/Sec-16/L8.95

Us-79/Sec16/L11.51

Cr-239/Z-D/L-6.3

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