County profile · official public datasets

Mississippi County, AR

309 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.3% rated Good, 34.3% Fair, 9.4% Poor.

309
Public bridges: 56.3%
Good condition: 9.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

64th
of 75 on Poor share: 9.4%
Poor-condition share: 309
public highway bridges: 1982
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.

Mississippi County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Mississippi County ranks #64 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 9.4%). Mississippi County, Arkansas contains 309 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.3% are rated “Good,” 34.3% “Fair,” and 9.4% “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

309

Public highway bridges in Mississippi County

Good condition

56.3%

174 of 309 rated 7-9

Fair condition

34.3%

106 of 309 rated 5-6

Poor condition

9.4%

29 of 309 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#64 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 309 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

56.3% (174)

Fair

34.3% (106)

Poor

9.4% (29)

Mississippi County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,583 vehicle crossings a day

That is 4.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 9.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,193 crossings a day against 1,681 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 309 of 309 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

37.9% of Mississippi County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

117 of the 309 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 56.3% 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 12.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 140-02-LM 12.11 over DITCH 40, built 1960, carries 4,185 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 29-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 34,583 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

3
1940s

3
1950s

31
1960s

74
1970s

26
1980s

39
1990s

39
2000s

57
2010s

24
2020s

9

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 74 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1982) matches the Arkansas average (1980).

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Mississippi County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 9.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1982 against a peer-group mean of 1983 is in line with the group.

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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (309 bridges here).

Howard County, MD · 309 bridges
Athens County, OH · 309 bridges
Washington County, OH · 309 bridges
Franklin County, IL · 310 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1982 here).

Oklahoma County, OK · avg 1982 · 1,216 bridges
Jackson County, MO · avg 1982 · 930 bridges
Milwaukee County, WI · avg 1982 · 893 bridges
Champaign County, IL · avg 1982 · 727 bridges

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

All 309 Good 174 Fair 106 Poor 29

All bridges (309)

Sort:

Mississippi County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Mississippi County's Poor-condition bridges carry 34,583 vehicle crossings a day

37.9% of Mississippi County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Mississippi 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 (309)

SH 308-03- LM 0.55

SH 308-03- LM 4.87

SH 77-01- LM 7.19

SH 119-05- LM 1.69

SH 119-05- LM 2.30

SH 14-16- LM 0.34

SH 14-16- LM 4.44

SH 14-16- LM 11.54

SH 181-04- LM 2.68

SH 77-03- LM 6.64

SH 77-03- LM 6.68

SH 158-01-LM 11.56

SH 140-02- LM 7.88

SH 150-01- LM 5.59

SH 150-01- LM 7.09

SH 150-01- LM 8.12

SH 297-01-LM 1.02

SH 297-01-LM 0.94

SH 18-06 LM 5.46

SH 18-07- LM 0.67

SH148-SEC 01-1.66

SH 18-05- LM 2.20

SH 77-03-LM 5.25

SH 140-02-LM 4.99

Hwy 18 - 06 - 3.53

Hwy 18 - 06 - 4.19

AR-18

SH 14

CR 2 K 911=W1242

CR W780 - H

CR-52-F(911=S317)

CR E368 - A

CR 410-B(911=N711)

CR S471 - E

CR 5 F 911=W1212

CR 164-J(911=N175)

CR N243 - J

CR 35-J 911=N243

CR 14-G (911=W924)

CR W780 - H

CR W764 - H

CR 25-D (911=N343)

CR 25-D (911=N359)

CR 38-D (911=W458)

CR15- I (911= N69)

CR 48-A (911=E442)

CR N49 - I

CR N69 - I

CR 140-J (911=142)

CR 141-J(911=W122)

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