Total bridges
221
Public highway bridges in Polk County
County profile · official public datasets
Polk County, AR
221 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 20.8% rated Good, 66.5% Fair, 12.7% Poor.
- 221
- Public bridges
- 20.8%
- Good condition
- 12.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Polk 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.
- 70th
- of 75 on Poor share
- 12.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 221
- public highway bridges
- 1965
- 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.
Polk County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Polk County ranks #70 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.7%). Polk County, Arkansas contains 221 public highway bridges. Roughly 20.8% are rated “Good,” 66.5% “Fair,” and 12.7% “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.
Good condition
20.8%
46 of 221 rated 7-9
Fair condition
66.5%
147 of 221 rated 5-6
Poor condition
12.7%
28 of 221 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#70 of 75
Among Arkansas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 221 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 20.8% (46)
Fair 66.5% (147)
Poor 12.7% (28)
Polk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 19,108 vehicle crossings a day
That is 7.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 682 crossings a day against 599 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 221 of 221 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
60.6% of Polk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
134 of the 221 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 20.8% 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 26.7% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 71 - Polk Co over Six Mile Creek, built 1940, carries 5,100 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 28-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 19,108 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Polk County's bridges were built
221 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1900s 1
1900–1909
1 bridges
- 1910s 3
1910–1919
3 bridges
- 1920s 8
1920–1929
8 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
35 bridges
- 1940s
1940–1949
30 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
47 bridges
- 1960s 10
1960–1969
10 bridges
- 1970s 5
1970–1979
5 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
31 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
21 bridges
- 2000s 11
2000–2009
11 bridges
- 2010s 15
2010–2019
15 bridges
- 2020s 4
2020–2029
4 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 47 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 21.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1965, 15 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.
How Polk County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Polk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.7% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1965 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 16 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 74 Arkansas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saline County | 231 | 56.7% | 39.4% | 3.9% | 1990 |
| Yell County | 227 | 54.6% | 44.1% | 1.3% | 1971 |
| Hot Spring County | 222 | 22.1% | 73% | 5% | 1972 |
| Polk County (this page) | 221 | 20.8% | 66.5% | 12.7% | 1965 |
| Faulkner County | 219 | 56.6% | 42% | 1.4% | 1987 |
| Miller County | 216 | 64.4% | 32.9% | 2.8% | 1986 |
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 Polk 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 Polk County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AR (221 bridges here).
- Daviess County, IN · 221 bridges
- Beauregard County, LA · 221 bridges
- Crawford County, OH · 221 bridges
- Union County, OH · 221 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1965 here).
- Windsor County, VT · avg 1965 · 483 bridges
- Bedford County, PA · avg 1965 · 417 bridges
- Crawford County, PA · avg 1965 · 399 bridges
- Harper County, KS · avg 1965 · 372 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (221)
County Road 67
PoorOver: Little Lee Branch Polk
6.6MI S SH 88, Polk, AR
Built 1945 Load: 5.4 t ADT: 100
Co. Rd. 37 Polk Co
PoorOver: Two Mile Creek Relief
3.28 MI S OLD POTTER, Polk, AR
Built 1923 Load: 7.3 t ADT: 221
County Road 2
PoorOver: Carter Creek-Polk Co.
2.08 MI E US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1955 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 48
CR 38 - Polk Co.
PoorOver: Mt. Fork River
3.10 MI W JCT 37 & 38, Polk, AR
Built 1905 Load: 8.2 t ADT: 144
County Road 67
PoorOver: Big Fork Creek-Polk Co.
1.91 M S SH 88 & CO RD 67, Polk, AR
Built 1915 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 70
County Road 31
PoorOver: Six Mile Creek - Polk Co
5.69 MI N SH 246&CO RD31, Polk, AR
Built 1992 Load: 9.1 t ADT: 901
Co Rd 109 Zone C
PoorOver: Quachita River - Polk Co
Acorn, Polk, AR
Built 1929 Load: 10.0 t ADT: 40
County Road 37
PoorOver: Paul Branch - Polk Co.
2.49 S OLD POTTER, Polk, AR
Built 1922 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 221
County Road 37
PoorOver: Thompson Creek-Polk Co
0.68 MI S OF POTTER, Polk, AR
Built 1925 Load: 13.6 t ADT: 221
County Road 70
PoorOver: Chances Creek-Polk Co.
0.16 MI E US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1936 Load: 14.5 t ADT: 334
State Highway 88
PoorOver: Loftis Creek Polk Co.
8 MI E US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1952 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 1,400
State Highway 88
PoorOver: Irons Fork Creek Polk Co
3.97 MI E JCT US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1955 Load: 20.0 t ADT: 2,250
CO RD 280 - E
PoorOver: Barren Creek-Polk County
0.5 MI NO US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1981 Load: 20.9 t ADT: 82
FDR 76
PoorOver: IRONS FORK
10.617 MI S OF HWY 270, Polk, AR
Built 1936 Load: 21.1 t ADT: 50
FDR 76
PoorOver: IRONS FORK
7.957 MI SW OF HWY 270, Polk, AR
Built 1936 Load: 21.4 t ADT: 50
State Highway 88
PoorOver: Ouachita River - Polk Co
3.26 MI E JCT US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1955 Load: 21.8 t ADT: 3,700
US 71 - Polk Co
PoorOver: Six Mile Creek
1.5 MI S OF Hatfield, Polk, AR
Built 1940 Load: 22.7 t ADT: 5,100
CO RD 70 ZONE B
PoorOver: Alex Branch-Polk Co.
3.70 M E JCT US71 & COR70, Polk, AR
Built 1937 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 334
State Highway 88
PoorOver: Gap Creek-Polk County
6.51 MI E OF JCT US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1950 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 2,250
County Road 23
PoorOver: Buffalo Creek - Polk Co.
4.0 MI E OF US 71 COVE, Polk, AR
Built 1940 Load: 28.1 t ADT: 100
County Road 35
PoorOver: Mike Creek Polk Co.
1.98 MI SE US 71, Polk, AR
Built 1991 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 672
Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Data sourced from official public datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainBridges
Every figure on PlainBridges is rendered directly from federal source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. NBI condition categories reflect the latest reported inventory record, not a live safety, closure, or travel decision.