County profile · official public datasets

Scott County, AR

198 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 26.8% rated Good, 66.7% Fair, 6.6% Poor.

198
Public bridges: 26.8%
Good condition: 6.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Scott 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.

49th
of 75 on Poor share: 6.6%
Poor-condition share: 198
public highway bridges: 1971
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.

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Scott County ranks #49 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.6%). Scott County, Arkansas contains 198 public highway bridges. Roughly 26.8% are rated “Good,” 66.7% “Fair,” and 6.6% “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

198

Public highway bridges in Scott County

Good condition

26.8%

53 of 198 rated 7-9

Fair condition

66.7%

132 of 198 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.6%

13 of 198 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#49 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 198 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

26.8% (53)

Fair

66.7% (132)

Poor

6.6% (13)

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,004 vehicle crossings a day

That is 3.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 616 crossings a day against 407 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 197 of 198 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

54% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

107 of the 198 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 26.8% 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 16.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

SH 23-Scott Co. over Petit Jean River, built 1949, carries 1,300 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 13-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,004 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1920s

13
1930s

13
1940s

7
1950s

17
1960s

40
1970s

38
1980s

29
1990s

16
2000s

9
2010s

14
2020s

1

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 40 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1971, 9 years older than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Scott County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.6% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1971 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is 7 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Scott County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Clark County	202	43.1%	54%	3%	1974
St. Francis County	202	34.7%	58.9%	6.4%	1974
Clay County	200	43.5%	47%	9.5%	1987
Montgomery County	199	40.2%	57.8%	2%	1975
Scott County (this page)	198	26.8%	66.7%	6.6%	1971
Poinsett County	194	41.8%	42.3%	16%	1982

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (198 bridges here).

Fulton County, OH · 198 bridges
Madison County, OH · 198 bridges
Aiken County, SC · 198 bridges
Dorchester County, SC · 198 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1971 here).

Wayne County, MI · avg 1971 · 1,026 bridges
Baltimore County, MD · avg 1971 · 783 bridges
Washington County, PA · avg 1971 · 655 bridges
Linn County, OR · avg 1971 · 566 bridges

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

All 198 Good 53 Fair 132 Poor 13

Good-condition bridges (53)

Sort:

Scott County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Scott County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,004 vehicle crossings a day

54% of Scott County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 16.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Scott 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

Good-condition bridges (53)

FDR 33

FDR 970

FDR 33

FDR 33

Johnny Tate Road

Barron Rd. - Scott

Manorcrest Road

State Highway 28

SH 28-Scott Co.

SH 28-Scott Co.

Abbott Road

US Highway 270

Hawcreek Loop

SH 28-Scott Co.

US 71-Scott Co.

US Highway 270

US Highway 270

SH 248-Scott Co.

SH 248-Scott Co.

County Road 12

County Road 87

SH 28 - Scott Co.

US Highway 270

State Highway 80

CR9/Nella Rd/Scott

SH 80-Scott Co.

Manorcrest Road

Cold Spring Road

SH 80-Scott Co.

Barron Rd.

Morgan Springs Rd.

CR 19-Scott Co.

CR 64-Scott

Weeks Rd.

Nella Road

Little TX Rd. CR24

Lower Winfield Rd.

Walker Mountain Rd

County Road 12

Rebeccas Rd.

County Rd 87-Scott

SH 28-Scott Co.

State Highway 28

State Highway 248

Tut Hill-Scott Co.

CR 64-Scott Co.

Johnny Tate Road

County Road 10

County Road 10

Co Rd 9/Nella Rd.

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