Total bridges
46
Public highway bridges in Faulk County
County profile · official public datasets
Faulk County, SD
46 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 19.6% rated Good, 58.7% Fair, 21.7% Poor.
- 46
- Public bridges
- 19.6%
- Good condition
- 21.7%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
Faulk 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.
- 47th
- of 66 on Poor share
- 21.7%
- Poor-condition share
- 46
- public highway bridges
- 1966
- 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.
Faulk County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Faulk County ranks #47 of 66 South Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 21.7%). Faulk County, South Dakota contains 46 public highway bridges. Roughly 19.6% are rated “Good,” 58.7% “Fair,” and 21.7% “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
19.6%
9 of 46 rated 7-9
Fair condition
58.7%
27 of 46 rated 5-6
Poor condition
21.7%
10 of 46 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#47 of 66
Among South Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 46 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 19.6% (9)
Fair 58.7% (27)
Poor 21.7% (10)
Faulk County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,413 vehicle crossings a day
That is 18.7% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 21.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 141 crossings a day against 201 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 46 of 46 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
52.2% of Faulk County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
24 of the 46 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 19.6% 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 54% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic
US212 over SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK, built 1939, carries 763 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 10-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.
Share is of the 1,413 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.
When Faulk County's bridges were built
46 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1920s
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 3
1940–1949
3 bridges
- 1950s 3
1950–1959
3 bridges
- 1970s 4
1970–1979
4 bridges
- 1980s
1980–1989
6 bridges
- 1990s 3
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2000s
2000–2009
5 bridges
- 2010s 3
2010–2019
3 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 12 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 26.1% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1966, 9 years older than the South Dakota average of 1975.
How Faulk County compares with South Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 South Dakota counties nearest Faulk County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 21.7% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1966 against a peer-group mean of 1976 is 10 years older.
Showing the 5 closest of 65 South Dakota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gregory County | 51 | 39.2% | 54.9% | 5.9% | 1976 |
| Corson County | 49 | 32.7% | 57.1% | 10.2% | 1973 |
| Harding County | 49 | 51% | 46.9% | 2% | 1985 |
| Faulk County (this page) | 46 | 19.6% | 58.7% | 21.7% | 1966 |
| Douglas County | 44 | 45.5% | 38.6% | 15.9% | 1969 |
| Hughes County | 40 | 40% | 37.5% | 22.5% | 1978 |
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 Faulk 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 Faulk County, both outside South Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside SD (46 bridges here).
- Butts County, GA · 46 bridges
- Marion County, GA · 46 bridges
- Towns County, GA · 46 bridges
- Russell County, KY · 46 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside SD (1966 here).
- Butler County, KS · avg 1966 · 591 bridges
- Grafton County, NH · avg 1966 · 544 bridges
- Queens County, NY · avg 1966 · 514 bridges
- Lehigh County, PA · avg 1966 · 381 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
Good-condition bridges (9)
167TH ST
GoodOver: CK
4N & 1.3E ROCKHAM, Faulk, SD
Built 1936 Load: 19.6 t ADT: 36
US212
GoodOver: TRIB FORD LAKE
2.7E Seneca, Faulk, SD
Built 2021 Load: 28.3 t ADT: 717
US212
GoodOver: TRIB S FORK SNAKE CK
5.8E & 0.5S Seneca, Faulk, SD
Built 2021 Load: 29.4 t ADT: 717
361 ST
GoodOver: CK
1.2N MIRANDA, Faulk, SD
Built 2016 Load: 31.8 t ADT: 54
357TH AVE
GoodOver: SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK
4E & 0.3N FAULKTON, Faulk, SD
Built 1999 Load: 32.3 t ADT: 65
369TH AVE
GoodOver: SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK
3W & 9.8N ZELL, Faulk, SD
Built 1997 Load: 35.4 t ADT: 36
359 AVE
GoodOver: SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK
6E & 1N FAULKTON, Faulk, SD
Built 2004 Load: 36.2 t ADT: 33
355TH AVE
GoodOver: SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK
2E & 0.2N FAULKTON, Faulk, SD
Built 2010 Load: 37.1 t ADT: 136
350TH AVE
GoodOver: SOUTH FORK SNAKE CK
3W FAULKTON, Faulk, SD
Built 1988 Load: 44.0 t ADT: 15
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.