Total bridges
231
Public highway bridges in Saline County
County profile · official public datasets
Saline County, AR
231 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 56.7% rated Good, 39.4% Fair, 3.9% Poor.
- 231
- Public bridges
- 56.7%
- Good condition
- 3.9%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Saline County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.
- Top 41%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 3.9%
- Poor-condition share
- 231
- public highway bridges
- 1990
- 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.
Saline County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Saline County ranks #31 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 3.9%). Saline County, Arkansas contains 231 public highway bridges. Roughly 56.7% are rated “Good,” 39.4% “Fair,” and 3.9% “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
56.7%
131 of 231 rated 7-9
Fair condition
39.4%
91 of 231 rated 5-6
Poor condition
3.9%
9 of 231 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#31 of 75
Among Arkansas counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 231 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 56.7% (131)
Fair 39.4% (91)
Poor 3.9% (9)
Saline County's Poor-condition bridges carry 13,766 vehicle crossings a day
That is 0.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 3.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 1,530 crossings a day against 6,754 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 231 of 231 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
27.3% of Saline County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
63 of the 231 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 56.7% 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 87.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US 167-SEC 12 NB over I 530 SB LNS Log 10.00, built 1963, carries 12,000 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 13,766 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Saline County's bridges were built
231 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s 6
1920–1929
6 bridges
- 1930s 7
1930–1939
7 bridges
- 1940s 2
1940–1949
2 bridges
- 1950s 16
1950–1959
16 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
28 bridges
- 1970s 14
1970–1979
14 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
20 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
35 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
43 bridges
- 2010s
2010–2019
41 bridges
- 2020s
2020–2029
19 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 43 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 18.6% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1990, 10 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.
How Saline County compares with Arkansas's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Saline County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 3.9% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1990 against a peer-group mean of 1975 is 15 years newer.
Showing the 5 closest of 74 Arkansas counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crittenden County | 235 | 40.4% | 51.9% | 7.7% | 1980 |
| Saline County (this page) | 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 | 221 | 20.8% | 66.5% | 12.7% | 1965 |
| Faulkner County | 219 | 56.6% | 42% | 1.4% | 1987 |
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 Saline 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 Saline County, both outside Arkansas so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside AR (231 bridges here).
- Jones County, IA · 231 bridges
- Clay County, KS · 231 bridges
- Panola County, MS · 231 bridges
- Burke County, NC · 231 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1990 here).
- Maricopa County, AZ · avg 1990 · 2,847 bridges
- Tarrant County, TX · avg 1990 · 2,617 bridges
- Fairfax County, VA · avg 1990 · 751 bridges
- Guilford County, NC · avg 1990 · 736 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Poor-condition bridges (9)
CR 72 D Unity Road
PoorOver: Lees Creek
2.5 Mi. W SH 9, Saline, AR
Built 2002 Load: 4.5 t ADT: 226
CR 59D Danville Rd
PoorOver: MIDDLE FORK SALINE RIVER
10.4 M W SH 9, Saline, AR
Built 1997 Load: 5.4 t ADT: 208
CR 57 Mt. Ida Road
PoorOver: LITTLE ALUM FORK
.3 SO OF JCT CR 74, Saline, AR
Built 1997 Load: 11.8 t ADT: 10
CR 74 Mt.Ida Road
PoorOver: ALUM FORK RELIEF
9.44 W JCT SH 9, Saline, AR
Built 1960 Load: 17.2 t ADT: 10
CR 74 Mt Ida Rd
PoorOver: ALUM FORK SALINE RVR
9.3 M W JCT CO RD 48, Saline, AR
Built 1969 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 10
Sulpher Springs RD
PoorOver: MIDDLE FK SALINE RIVER
JCT CR 57 & 59, Saline, AR
Built 1992 Load: 18.1 t ADT: 90
SH 9 -5 Log 4.68
PoorOver: ALUM FORK
4.7 MI N OF CROWS, Saline, AR
Built 1963 Load: 23.6 t ADT: 1,200
CR 17 Zone F
PoorOver: I-30 Log 106.35
I-30 Log 106.35, Saline, AR
Built 1963 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 12
US 167-SEC 12 NB
PoorOver: I 530 SB LNS Log 10.00
@ INTERCH I 530 & 167, Saline, AR
Built 1963 Load: 32.7 t ADT: 12,000
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.