County profile · official public datasets

Monroe County, AR

85 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 55.3% rated Good, 37.6% Fair, 7.1% Poor.

85
Public bridges: 55.3%
Good condition: 7.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

52nd
of 75 on Poor share: 7.1%
Poor-condition share: 85
public highway bridges: 1975
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.

Monroe County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Monroe County ranks #52 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 7.1%). Monroe County, Arkansas contains 85 public highway bridges. Roughly 55.3% are rated “Good,” 37.6% “Fair,” and 7.1% “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 Monroe County

Good condition

55.3%

47 of 85 rated 7-9

Fair condition

37.6%

32 of 85 rated 5-6

Poor condition

7.1%

6 of 85 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#52 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 85 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

55.3% (47)

Fair

37.6% (32)

Poor

7.1% (6)

Monroe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,120 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 7.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,187 crossings a day against 5,344 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 85 of 85 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.4% of Monroe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

42 of the 85 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 55.3% 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 50.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

Us-79/Sec-13/L0.23 over Bayou Lagrue, built 1950, carries 3,600 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 6-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,120 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

12
1940s

5
1950s

8
1960s

16
1970s

3
1980s

10
1990s

6
2000s

11
2010s

10
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 16 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 is 1975, 5 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Monroe County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 7.1% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1979 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Monroe County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Baxter County	91	62.6%	37.4%	0%	1984
Chicot County	88	40.9%	50%	9.1%	1973
Prairie County	88	39.8%	50%	10.2%	1973
Monroe County (this page)	85	55.3%	37.6%	7.1%	1975
Desha County	83	55.4%	39.8%	4.8%	1984
Little River County	83	54.2%	38.6%	7.2%	1979

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (85 bridges here).

Elbert County, CO · 85 bridges
Hardee County, FL · 85 bridges
Early County, GA · 85 bridges
Union County, GA · 85 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1975 here).

San Bernardino County, CA · avg 1975 · 1,422 bridges
Lane County, OR · avg 1975 · 1,010 bridges
Fulton County, GA · avg 1975 · 775 bridges
Westmoreland County, PA · avg 1975 · 620 bridges

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

All 85 Good 47 Fair 32 Poor 6

All bridges (85)

Sort:

Monroe County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Monroe County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,120 vehicle crossings a day

49.4% of Monroe County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 50.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Monroe 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 (85)

Sh-17/Sec-2/L-7.75

Sh-86/Sec-3/L18.95

Sh-238/Sec-1/L-2.3

Sh-1/Sec-6/L-6.24

Sh-17/Sec-2/L-1.62

Sh-17/Sec-2/L-2.15

Us-70/Sec-17/L0.97

Us-70/Sec-17/L1.88

Us-70/Sec-17/L5.25

Sh-1/Sec-6/L-9.08

Us-70/Sec-17/L5.72

Us-70/Sec-17/L6.61

Sh-302/Sec-2/L8.08

Us-70/Sec-17/L-0.4

Us-70/Sec-17/L1.31

Us-70/Sec-17/L2.65

Us-70/Sec-17/L3.49

Us-70/Sec-17/L4.62

Us-70/Sec-17/L5.08

CrEden Road/ZD/.82

Us-79/Sec-13/L5.30

Us-79/Sec-13/L6.58

Us-79B/Sec14/L0.19

Sh-1/Sec-6/L-2.97

Sh-1/Sec-6/L-3.45

I-40WB/Se43/209.29

I-40WB/Se43/215.99

I-40WB/Se43/217.76

I-40EB/Se43/209.29

I-40EB/Se43/217.76

Sh-17/Sec-1/L6.21

Us-70/Sec-17/L8.86

Us-79/Sec-13/L4.18

Us-79/Sec-14/L5.0

Us-79/Sec-14/L-7.8

Us-79/Sec14/L11.66

Us-49/Sec-9/L16.45

Cypress/Z-C/L0.25

Sh-17/Sec-2/L-6.22

Sh-146/Sec-4/L4.15

Sh-146/Sec-4/L5.71

Propeller/ZG/L0.25

Sh-146/Sec-4/L7.72

US 79 -SEC 13

Sh-39/Sec-10/L2.67

Gazzola/Brinkley

Sh-39/Sec-10/L4.97

Us-49/Sec-9/L16.47

I-40/Sec43/L214.68

Sh-146/Sec4/L-1.36

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