County profile · official public datasets

Marion County, AR

65 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 44.6% rated Good, 50.8% Fair, 4.6% Poor.

65
Public bridges: 44.6%
Good condition: 4.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Marion County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 47%
lowest Poor share in state: 4.6%
Poor-condition share: 65
public highway bridges: 1966
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.

Marion County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Marion County ranks #35 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 4.6%). Marion County, Arkansas contains 65 public highway bridges. Roughly 44.6% are rated “Good,” 50.8% “Fair,” and 4.6% “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 Marion County

Good condition

44.6%

29 of 65 rated 7-9

Fair condition

50.8%

33 of 65 rated 5-6

Poor condition

4.6%

3 of 65 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#35 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 65 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

44.6% (29)

Fair

50.8% (33)

Poor

4.6% (3)

Marion County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,020 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 4.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,340 crossings a day against 2,029 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 65 of 65 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

60% of Marion County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

39 of the 65 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 44.6% 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 79.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 14 Marion over TOWN BRANCH, built 1959, carries 3,200 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 4,020 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

8
1940s

5
1950s

11
1960s

3
1970s

7
1980s

4
1990s

10
2000s

1
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 11 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 14 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Marion County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 4.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 10 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Marion County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Stone County	73	39.7%	47.9%	12.3%	1973
Lafayette County	72	62.5%	34.7%	2.8%	1987
Newton County	65	47.7%	49.2%	3.1%	1977
Searcy County	65	41.5%	55.4%	3.1%	1970
Marion County (this page)	65	44.6%	50.8%	4.6%	1966
Cleburne County	53	41.5%	52.8%	5.7%	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 Marion 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 Marion County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (65 bridges here).

Sierra County, CA · 65 bridges
Pierce County, GA · 65 bridges
Payette County, ID · 65 bridges
Newaygo County, MI · 65 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1966 here).

Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges

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

All 65 Good 29 Fair 33 Poor 3

Fair-condition bridges (33)

Sort:

Marion County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Marion County's Poor-condition bridges carry 4,020 vehicle crossings a day

60% of Marion County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 79.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Marion 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

Fair-condition bridges (33)

CR 3021 Marion

CR 6064 Marion

CR 885 Marion

CR 4018 Marion

CR 8060 Marion

US 62B-S 9-Marion

US 62 Spur Marion

SH 14 Marion

US 62/412 Marion

US 62/412 Marion

CR 1092 Marion

Alford St Flippin

SH 14 Marion

SH 178 Marion

SH 14 Marion

SH 14 Marion

SH 14 Marion

CR 8060 Marion

SH 235 Marion

SH 178 Marion

SH 206 Marion

US 62/412 Marion

US 62/412 Marion

SH 14 Marion

SH 14 Marion

SH 125 Marion Co.

SH 125 Marion Co.

CR 7041 Marion

CR 5032 Marion

ARKANSAS HWY 178

US 62/412 Marion

SH 14 Marion

CR 6010 Marion

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