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.

1920s

5
1930s

4
1940s

5
1950s

19
1960s

28
1970s

16
1980s

18
1990s

21
2000s

16
2010s

13
2020s

4

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).

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	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Arkansas County	154	43.5%	53.9%	2.6%	1980
Logan County	152	19.1%	72.4%	8.6%	1961
Randolph County	151	39.1%	57.6%	3.3%	1976
Drew County	149	54.4%	41.6%	4%	1986
Madison County (this page)	149	22.1%	62.4%	15.4%	1978
Franklin County	143	25.2%	65.7%	9.1%	1965

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).

Tallapoosa County, AL · 149 bridges
Walker County, GA · 149 bridges
Valley County, ID · 149 bridges
Randolph County, IL · 149 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 149 Good 33 Fair 93 Poor 23

Poor-condition bridges (23)

Sort:

Madison County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

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

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

One structure carries 15.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Madison 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

Poor-condition bridges (23)

Madison CORD 19-B

Madison CR 223 ZB

328-F Madison Co.

Madison CO RD 192

CR 7/5551 Madison

CR 309-Madison Co.

Madison CO RD 18-B

Madison CR 330

CORD 454 Madison

CR 176 Madison Co.

Madison CR 43-D

CR 4425 Madison Co

SH 21 Madison

SH 74 Madison Co.

Madison Co Rd 16

SH 16 Madison

SH 23-Madison Co.

SH 74 Madison Co.

SH 23 Madison Co.

SH 45 Madison Co.

Madison Co. SH 23

CR 314-Madison Co.

CR 2340 Madison Co

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