County profile · official public datasets

Pope County, AR

188 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 39.4% rated Good, 59.6% Fair, 1.1% Poor.

188
Public bridges: 39.4%
Good condition: 1.1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Pope County pairs a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with an older average build year than the state inventory.

Top 8%
lowest Poor share in state: 1.1%
Poor-condition share: 188
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.

Pope County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Pope County ranks #6 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1.1%). Pope County, Arkansas contains 188 public highway bridges. Roughly 39.4% are rated “Good,” 59.6% “Fair,” and 1.1% “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

188

Public highway bridges in Pope County

Good condition

39.4%

74 of 188 rated 7-9

Fair condition

59.6%

112 of 188 rated 5-6

Poor condition

1.1%

2 of 188 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#6 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 188 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

39.4% (74)

Fair

59.6% (112)

Poor

1.1% (2)

Pope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 897 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.1% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1.1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 449 crossings a day against 4,660 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 188 of 188 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

46.8% of Pope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

88 of the 188 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 39.4% 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 98.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 124 over Clear Creek, built 1962, carries 887 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 2-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 897 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

4
1930s

11
1940s

22
1950s

13
1960s

27
1970s

30
1980s

23
1990s

15
2000s

16
2010s

22
2020s

5

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1970s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 16% 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 Pope County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Pope County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1.1% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1975 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is in line with the group.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Pope County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Montgomery County	199	40.2%	57.8%	2%	1975
Scott County	198	26.8%	66.7%	6.6%	1971
Poinsett County	194	41.8%	42.3%	16%	1982
Pope County (this page)	188	39.4%	59.6%	1.1%	1975
Lonoke County	187	55.6%	39.6%	4.8%	1981
Independence County	184	39.1%	52.2%	8.7%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (188 bridges here).

Kennebec County, ME · 188 bridges
Coos County, NH · 188 bridges
Socorro County, NM · 188 bridges
Baker County, OR · 188 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 188 Good 74 Fair 112 Poor 2

All bridges (188)

Sort:

Pope County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Pope County's Poor-condition bridges carry 897 vehicle crossings a day

46.8% of Pope County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 98.9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Pope 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 (188)

NO DATA ENTERED

Crow Mountain Road

Old Hwy. 7

Tyler Rd - A

Griffin Flat Rd-B

Buttermilk Rd - B

SH 326

PIlot Rock Rd. - E

Rushing Rd - E

Center Valley Rd

Buttermilk Rd - B

Broomfield Rd - D

SH 333

SH 27

N Elizabeth St - D

Buttermilk Rd - B

Broomfield Rd. - D

SH 27

Was SR 363

Pine Ridge Rd - A

East Gumlog Rd - B

Sandstone Rd. - D

SH 324

SH 872/N El Paso

May Rd - A

Ross Mt. Rd. - E

E. Parkway Ave - B

Boyd Rd - D

E. 16 th St - A.

SH 164

N. Boston Ave - B

SH 333

Ross Mt. Rd. - E

SH 105

SH 105

SH 124

N.Commerce St - E

West Parkway - E

East B Street - B

Duvall Rd. - B

SH 27

SH 247

SH 247

Treat Rd - E

Center Valley Rd.

Pine St. - C

West C. St - E

Pine Hill Rd -D

Hogan Roberts Lp-B

SH 333

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