County profile · official public datasets

Pike County, AR

95 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 36.8% rated Good, 60% Fair, 3.2% Poor.

95
Public bridges: 36.8%
Good condition: 3.2%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pike 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 31%
lowest Poor share in state: 3.2%
Poor-condition share: 95
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.

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pike County ranks #23 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.2%). Pike County, Arkansas contains 95 public highway bridges. Roughly 36.8% are rated “Good,” 60% “Fair,” and 3.2% “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

Public highway bridges in Pike County

Good condition

36.8%

35 of 95 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60%

57 of 95 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3.2%

3 of 95 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#23 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 95 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

36.8% (35)

Fair

60% (57)

Poor

3.2% (3)

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,477 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.4% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 826 crossings a day against 971 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 95 of 95 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

49.5% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

47 of the 95 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 36.8% 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 49.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 26-SEC.03-16.63 over ANTOINE RIVER, built 1953, carries 1,227 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 2,477 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

5
1930s

5
1940s

4
1950s

9
1960s

8
1970s

26
1980s

14
1990s

8
2000s

8
2010s

7
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 26 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 27.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 45 to 54 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1975, 5 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Pike County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.2% 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 Pike County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Phillips County	101	37.6%	40.6%	21.8%	1983
Boone County	98	54.1%	42.9%	3.1%	1971
Van Buren County	98	44.9%	48%	7.1%	1979
Pike County (this page)	95	36.8%	60%	3.2%	1975
Lee County	94	38.3%	48.9%	12.8%	1979
Baxter County	91	62.6%	37.4%	0%	1984

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (95 bridges here).

Camden County, GA · 95 bridges
Liberty County, GA · 95 bridges
Fulton County, KY · 95 bridges
Bertie County, NC · 95 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 95 Good 35 Fair 57 Poor 3

All bridges (95)

Sort:

Pike County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pike County's Poor-condition bridges carry 2,477 vehicle crossings a day

49.5% of Pike County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 49.5% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pike 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 (95)

CR 46-C-1.38-BAKER

CORD 103; BOWEN BR

SH 26 - 03 - 0.27

OLD HWY 70

C.R. 289 OAK GROVE

CR 6 / Nathan Rd.

SH 29 SEC.06 -1.04

SH 84 - 03 - 7.51

SH 84 - 03 - 8.39

SH 26 - 03 - 11.76

SH 19 SEC. 06-2.01

SH 84 - 03 - 8.95

SH 84 SEC.02-6.89

US 70 SEC.04-10.35

SH 27 SEC.05-12.45

US 70 SEC.05- 2.41

US 70 SEC.05-6.24

SH301-SEC.01-19.52

SH 301 SEC.01-5.43

SH 84 - 02 -13.50

C.R. 31 EAST FARM

SH 19 SEC.07-5.35

CR 5/MUDDY FORK RD

US 70 SEC.04-15.20

US 70 - 04 - 1.89

US 70 SEC.05-8.11

S.H 8 SEC. 04-1.39

SH 301 - 01 - 2.57

US-70 SEC 04-5.56

SH 301 SEC.01-4.58

ACCESS ROAD

SH 301 SEC.01-1.58

CR 28 Palestine Rd

SH 369 - 02 - 2.27

SH 84 - 02 - 5.09

US 70 - 05 - 3.79

SH 27 - 04 - 4.40

SH 84 - 02 - 2.05

SH -301 - 01- 8.70

SH 369 - 03 - 5.45

SH 27 - 04 - 5.41

SH 27 - 04 - 4.15

CR 32 BILLS TOWN R

CR 32 BILLS TOWN R

CR.15-STRAWBERRY.R

SH 84 - 02- 2.86

US 70 - 05- 10.58

SH 26 - 03 - 13.31

SH 301 -01 - 11.30

CR 31 E. FARM RD.

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