County profile · official public datasets

Madison County, AR

149 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 22.1% rated Good, 62.4% Fair, 15.4% Poor.

149
Public bridges
22.1%
Good condition
15.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

72nd
of 75 on Poor share
15.4%
Poor-condition share
149
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.

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Madison County ranks #72 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.4%). Madison County, Arkansas contains 149 public highway bridges. Roughly 22.1% are rated “Good,” 62.4% “Fair,” and 15.4% “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

149

Public highway bridges in Madison County

Good condition

22.1%

33 of 149 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.4%

93 of 149 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.4%

23 of 149 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#72 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 149 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good
22.1% (33)
Fair
62.4% (93)
Poor
15.4% (23)

Madison County's Poor-condition bridges carry 18,476 vehicle crossings a day

That is 9.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 803 crossings a day against 1,636 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 149 of 149 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.3% of Madison County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

69 of the 149 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 15.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 45 Madison Co. over WAR EAGLE CREEK, built 1964, carries 2,800 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 18,476 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

When Madison County's bridges were built

149 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade

bridges

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 28 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

Source FHWA National Bridge Inventory (year built) As of 2024 NBI release

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Madison County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1974 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Madison County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County Bridges Poor
Arkansas County 154 2.6%
Logan County 152 8.6%
Randolph County 151 3.3%
Drew County 149 4%
Madison County (this page) 149 15.4%
Franklin County 143 9.1%

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (149 bridges here).

Similar average build year

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

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

All 149 Good 33 Fair 93 Poor 23

Good-condition bridges (33)

SH 16 Madison Co

Good

Over: DITCH

.73 E JCT SH 23 & 16, Madison, AR

Built 1955 Load: 16.3 t ADT: 500

Madison SH 21

Good

Over: DITCH

.01 MI SO JCT US412&21, Madison, AR

Built 1961 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 1,600

Madison Co SH 74

Good

Over: DITCH

2.9 MI NE OF SH 295, Madison, AR

Built 1960 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 2,100

Madison Co SH 74

Good

Over: DITCH

3.0 MI NE OF SH 295, Madison, AR

Built 1962 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 2,100

CR 441 Madison

Good

Over: WHITENER BRANCH

1.14 MI E JCT SH 295 N, Madison, AR

Built 1984 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 160

SH 74 Madison Co

Good

Over: CREEK

6.23MI E JCT SH 23 & 74, Madison, AR

Built 1974 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 540

SH 295 Madison

Good

Over: WHITENER BRANCH

0.8MI SO JCT US412&SH295, Madison, AR

Built 1984 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 870

SH 295 Madison Co

Good

Over: DITCH

1.25 MI N JCT 295&45, Madison, AR

Built 1986 Load: 19.1 t ADT: 960

SH 16 Madison Co

Good

Over: DITCH

2.82 MI E JCT OF SH 23, Madison, AR

Built 1952 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 500

CR7250 Madison Co.

Good

Over: DITCH

8.65 MI SE WASHINGTON CO, Madison, AR

Built 1947 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 26

Madison Co. SH 74

Good

Over: BRANCH

11.35 E JCT SH 23 & 74, Madison, AR

Built 1975 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 540

CR 441 Madison

Good

Over: WHITENER BRANCH

.44 MI E SH 295 N, Madison, AR

Built 1984 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 160

WValley Rd Madison

Good

Over: WHITENER BRANCH

.08 MI WEST US 412B, Madison, AR

Built 1987 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 38

SH 23 Madison Co

Good

Over: Creek

2.40 MI N OF FRANKLIN CO, Madison, AR

Built 1996 Load: 25.4 t ADT: 620

412 B Madison

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH

JCT S H 23 & U S 412 B, Madison, AR

Built 2005 Load: 26.3 t ADT: 2,972

SH 23 Madison Co.

Good

Over: SEALS CREEK Madison Co

17.64 MI N OF FRANKLIN LN, Madison, AR

Built 1993 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 1,100

SH 23 Madison

Good

Over: REL STR FLEMING CRK

3.19 M N FRANKLIN CO, Madison, AR

Built 1996 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 1,191

SH 23 Madison

Good

Over: KECKS CREEK

0.2 MI S WITTER, Madison, AR

Built 1994 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,100

SH 23 Madison Co

Good

Over: FLEMING CREEK

3.4 MI N OF FRANKLIN, Madison, AR

Built 1996 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,191

US412B Madison Co.

Good

Over: HOLMAN CREEK

2.12 MI NW US 412 & 23, Madison, AR

Built 2005 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 4,789

US 412 Madison Co.

Good

Over: HOLMAN CREEK & SH 23

JCT US 412 & SH 23, Madison, AR

Built 1998 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 7,999

Madison SH 23

Good

Over: WAR EAGLE CREEK

4.0 MI N JCT SH 16, Madison, AR

Built 2001 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,100

SH 23 - Madison Co

Good

Over: WAR EAGLE CREEK

.75 MI N JCT OF SH 74, Madison, AR

Built 2017 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,537

CR 8660 Madison

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH

0.1 MI W JCT S H 23, Madison, AR

Built 2006 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 672

CR 4645 Madison Co

Good

Over: WHITE RIVER

0.03 Mi S SH 16& CR4645, Madison, AR

Built 2012 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 124

CR 5205

Good

Over: Shooting Creek

4.0 MI SE WESLEY, Madison, AR

Built 2022 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 703

CR 5205

Good

Over: creek

3.8 MI SE WESLEY, Madison, AR

Built 2022 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 703

US 412 WB Madison

Good

Over: GLADE CREEK

6.7 M E WASHINGTON CO, Madison, AR

Built 2012 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 5,497

SH 23 Madison Co.

Good

Over: STREAM

4.74 MI SW OF US 412, Madison, AR

Built 2017 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,389

SH 23 Madison Co.

Good

Over: STREAM

3.45 MI SW OF US 412, Madison, AR

Built 2017 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,537

SH 23

Good

Over: TOWN BRANCH

1.54 MI SW OF US 412 JCT, Madison, AR

Built 2017 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 3,600

State Highway 74

Good

Over: Pigeon Creek-Madison Co.

3.33 MI SE WASHINGTON CO, Madison, AR

Built 2020 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 1,800

Hwy 127

Good

Over: Henderson Creek

.45 MI E HWY 23, Madison, AR

Built 2022 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 270

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Related

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Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges

Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.