County profile · official public datasets

Beadle County, SD

152 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.1% rated Good, 47.4% Fair, 33.6% Poor.

152
Public bridges: 19.1%
Good condition: 33.6%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Beadle 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.

65th
of 66 on Poor share: 33.6%
Poor-condition share: 152
public highway bridges: 1955
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.

Beadle County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Beadle County ranks #65 of 66 South Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 33.6%). Beadle County, South Dakota contains 152 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.1% are rated “Good,” 47.4% “Fair,” and 33.6% “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

152

Public highway bridges in Beadle County

Good condition

19.1%

29 of 152 rated 7-9

Fair condition

47.4%

72 of 152 rated 5-6

Poor condition

33.6%

51 of 152 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#65 of 66

Among South Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 152 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

19.1% (29)

Fair

47.4% (72)

Poor

33.6% (51)

Beadle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,007 vehicle crossings a day

That is 12% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 33.6% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 137 crossings a day against 156 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 152 of 152 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

71.7% of Beadle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

109 of the 152 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 19.1% 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 51.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

US014 over JAMES RV, built 1960, carries 3,619 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 51-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,007 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1900s

2
1910s

5
1920s

27
1930s

37
1940s

10
1950s

9
1960s

14
1970s

12
1980s

11
1990s

5
2000s

9
2010s

7
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 37 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.3% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1955, 20 years older than the South Dakota average of 1975.

How Beadle County compares with South Dakota's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 South Dakota counties nearest Beadle County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 33.6% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1955 against a peer-group mean of 1977 is 22 years older.

Showing the 5 closest of 65 South Dakota counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Beadle County and the 5 South Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Hutchinson County	161	32.9%	50.9%	16.1%	1974
Roberts County	157	22.9%	52.9%	24.2%	1970
Beadle County (this page)	152	19.1%	47.4%	33.6%	1955
Butte County	143	30.8%	57.3%	11.9%	1976
Turner County	143	38.5%	35.7%	25.9%	1984
Lawrence County	136	36%	51.5%	12.5%	1980

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 Beadle 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 Beadle County, both outside South Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SD (152 bridges here).

Logan County, AR · 152 bridges
Kosciusko County, IN · 152 bridges
Muhlenberg County, KY · 152 bridges
Clinton County, MO · 152 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SD (1955 here).

Brown County, TX · avg 1955 · 223 bridges
Boone County, IA · avg 1955 · 135 bridges
Duval County, TX · avg 1955 · 121 bridges
Bath County, VA · avg 1955 · 73 bridges

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

All 152 Good 29 Fair 72 Poor 51

All bridges (152)

Sort:

Beadle County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Beadle County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,007 vehicle crossings a day

71.7% of Beadle County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 51.6% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Beadle County compares with South Dakota'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 (152)

214th Street

375th Avenue

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192ND St

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214th Street

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375th Avenue

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193rd Street

196th Street

202nd Street

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