County profile · official public datasets

Union County, AR

289 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 73% rated Good, 26% Fair, 1% Poor.

289
Public bridges: 73%
Good condition: 1%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 7%
lowest Poor share in state: 1%
Poor-condition share: 289
public highway bridges: 1992
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.

Union County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Union County ranks #5 of 75 Arkansas counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 1%). Union County, Arkansas contains 289 public highway bridges. Roughly 73% are rated “Good,” 26% “Fair,” and 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

289

Public highway bridges in Union County

Good condition

73%

211 of 289 rated 7-9

Fair condition

26%

75 of 289 rated 5-6

Poor condition

3 of 289 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 75

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

Condition distribution

Share of 289 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

73% (211)

Fair

26% (75)

Poor

1% (3)

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,080 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 1% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 4,027 crossings a day against 1,685 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 289 of 289 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

17.3% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

50 of the 289 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 73% 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 91.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US 82B S5 LM 2.42 over UN PAC RR & Jackson St, built 1935, carries 11,000 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 3-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 12,080 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

11
1950s

13
1960s

11
1970s

47
1980s

14
1990s

42
2000s

96
2010s

38
2020s

14

What this shows Construction peaked in the 2000s, when 96 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 33.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 15 to 24 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1992, 12 years newer than the Arkansas average of 1980.

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

The 5 Arkansas counties nearest Union County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 1% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1992 against a peer-group mean of 1981 is 11 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Union County and the 5 Arkansas counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
White County	322	44.1%	50.6%	5.3%	1978
Garland County	319	43.3%	55.8%	0.9%	1977
Mississippi County	309	56.3%	34.3%	9.4%	1982
Union County (this page)	289	73%	26%	1%	1992
Greene County	251	51%	45.8%	3.2%	1992
Crawford County	248	22.2%	70.2%	7.7%	1974

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside AR (289 bridges here).

Butler County, IA · 289 bridges
Grundy County, IA · 289 bridges
McKinley County, NM · 289 bridges
Knox County, IN · 290 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside AR (1992 here).

Johnson County, KS · avg 1992 · 781 bridges
Wake County, NC · avg 1992 · 760 bridges
Nodaway County, MO · avg 1992 · 396 bridges
Cameron County, TX · avg 1992 · 355 bridges

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

All 289 Good 211 Fair 75 Poor 3

Good-condition bridges (211)

Sort:

Union County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Union County's Poor-condition bridges carry 12,080 vehicle crossings a day

17.3% of Union County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 91.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Union 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 (211)

US167 LM 3.96 Sec2

SH 15 S-1 LM 17.11

US 82 S-5 LM12.59

SH 335

UNION CR 6 Z-(J)

Union CR11 Z-F

Union CO RD 1 Z-I

Union CO RD 1 Z-I

UNION CR 27 ZONE L

CR 10 ZONE H

Union CR 2 Z-I

UNION CR 18 ZONE E

UNION CR 6 (J)

Union CR 21 Z-C

Union CR 56 Z-G

Union CR 24 Z-B

Union CR 42 Z-C

Union CR 19 Z-D

Union CoRd 23 Z-B

Union CoRd10 Z-H

Union CR 2 Z-I

Union CR-18 Z-E

Union CR 24 ZONE B

Union CR 43 ZONE D

Union CR 2 ZONE I

CR 25 ZONE C

Union CR 64 Z-H

Union CR 22 Z-C

Union CR-77 Z-E

Union CoRd 70 Z-J

Union CR19 Zone D

Union Co. 19 Sec D

Co.Rd.28 zone L

Union CR 33 Z-D

Union CR 74 Z-L

Union CR 24 ZONE B

Union CR 11 Z-F

Union CR 10 Z-H

Union CR 10 Z-H

Union CR 11/ F

Union Co.Rd. 49

Union CR 5 ZONE J

CR 10

CR 46

CR 7/Caledonia Rd.

CR 46 Log 2.32

Union CR 9 Z-D

Union CR 312 Z-D

Union CoRd 13

Dollar Junction Rd

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