County profile · official public datasets

Ouachita County, AR

162 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 34.6% rated Good, 59.3% Fair, 6.2% Poor.

162
Public bridges: 34.6%
Good condition: 6.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Ouachita 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.

47th
of 75 on Poor share: 6.2%
Poor-condition share: 162
public highway bridges: 1973
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.

Ouachita County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Ouachita County ranks #47 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.2%). Ouachita County, Arkansas contains 162 public highway bridges. Roughly 34.6% are rated “Good,” 59.3% “Fair,” and 6.2% “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

162

Public highway bridges in Ouachita County

Good condition

34.6%

56 of 162 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.3%

96 of 162 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.2%

10 of 162 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#47 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 162 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

34.6% (56)

Fair

59.3% (96)

Poor

6.2% (10)

Ouachita County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,444 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,244 crossings a day against 2,132 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 162 of 162 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

48.1% of Ouachita County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

78 of the 162 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 34.6% 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 29.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 79-B S-4 LM 2.2 over OUACHITA RIVER, built 1947, carries 3,700 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,444 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

8
1930s

3
1940s

10
1950s

22
1960s

24
1970s

38
1980s

19
1990s

20
2000s

4
2010s

10
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 38 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1973, 7 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Ouachita County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.2% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1973 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Ouachita County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Sevier County	164	55.5%	37.8%	6.7%	1977
Johnson County	162	46.3%	51.9%	1.9%	1972
Ouachita County (this page)	162	34.6%	59.3%	6.2%	1973
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

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (162 bridges here).

Perry County, AL · 162 bridges
Bond County, IL · 162 bridges
Greene County, IL · 162 bridges
Monona County, IA · 162 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1973 here).

Jefferson County, AL · avg 1973 · 1,068 bridges
Erie County, NY · avg 1973 · 906 bridges
Davidson County, TN · avg 1973 · 832 bridges
Lancaster County, PA · avg 1973 · 801 bridges

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

All 162 Good 56 Fair 96 Poor 10

Fair-condition bridges (96)

Sort:

Ouachita County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Ouachita County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,444 vehicle crossings a day

48.1% of Ouachita County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 29.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Ouachita 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 (96)

Ouachita CR 2 Z-H

Ouachita CR 48 Z-G

Ouachita CR9 Z-H

SH 376 S-0 LM 1.32

Ouachita CR 13 Z-F

US 79B S-4 LM 2.72

US 79B S-4BLM 3.79

US79B S-4 Lm4.36

US794B Lm4.69Oua.

US 79 S-3 LM 17.89

US79 S-4 LM 9.99SB

US79 S-4 LM10.50NB

LINCOLN ST.

SH 7-S-3 LM 15.06

Ouachita CR 68 Z-A

Ouachita CR 22 Z-E

Ouachita CR 22 Z-E

Ouachita CR25 Z-E

Ouachita CR25 Z-E

US 79 S-4 LM 3.26

US 79 S-4 LM 4.43

SH7Sec3Lm14.48

SH7 SB S-3 LM 0.11

SH 376 S-1 LM 2.62

US278 S-8 LM 12.71

SH 24 S-6 LM 0.91

SH 7 S-3 LM 0.1NB

US 79 S-3 LM 21.23

Ouachita CR 32 Z-D

HAYNES AVE

Ouachita CR 92 Z-C

Ouachita CR 30 Z-E

Ouachita CR 99 Z-A

Ouachita CR 44 Z-B

SH 9 S-1 LM 2.36

US79 S-4 LM 9.99NB

US79 S-4 LM10.50SB

US278 S8WB LM17.36

SH7 SB S-3 LM 1.34

US 278 S-8 LM 16.4

US278S-8 LM17.36EB

SH 7NB S-3 LM 9.72

SH7 NB S-3 LM 1.34

SH 7 S-4 LM 12.25

SH57 Sec 0 Lm 4.42

SH 7 S-3 LM 9.32

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