County profile · official public datasets

Hand County, SD

126 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 24.6% rated Good, 46% Fair, 29.4% Poor.

126
Public bridges: 24.6%
Good condition: 29.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Hand 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.

62nd
of 66 on Poor share: 29.4%
Poor-condition share: 126
public highway bridges: 1961
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.

Hand County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Hand County ranks #62 of 66 South Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 29.4%). Hand County, South Dakota contains 126 public highway bridges. Roughly 24.6% are rated “Good,” 46% “Fair,” and 29.4% “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

126

Public highway bridges in Hand County

Good condition

24.6%

31 of 126 rated 7-9

Fair condition

46%

58 of 126 rated 5-6

Poor condition

29.4%

37 of 126 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#62 of 66

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

Condition distribution

Share of 126 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

24.6% (31)

Fair

46% (58)

Poor

29.4% (37)

Hand County's Poor-condition bridges carry 968 vehicle crossings a day

That is 2.9% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 29.4% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 26 crossings a day against 309 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 126 of 126 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

65.9% of Hand County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

83 of the 126 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 24.6% 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 6.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

365TH AVE over CK, built 1930, carries 59 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 37-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 968 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

10
1920s

13
1930s

30
1950s

7
1960s

20
1970s

6
1980s

3
1990s

10
2000s

16
2010s

7
2020s

4

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1930s, when 30 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 23.8% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 85 to 94 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1961, 14 years older than the South Dakota average of 1975.

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

The 5 South Dakota counties nearest Hand County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 29.4% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1961 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 12 years older.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Hand County and the 5 South Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Butte County	143	30.8%	57.3%	11.9%	1976
Lawrence County	136	36%	51.5%	12.5%	1980
Bon Homme County	126	21.4%	50.8%	27.8%	1961
Hand County (this page)	126	24.6%	46%	29.4%	1961
Davison County	123	34.1%	48.8%	17.1%	1973
Lyman County	114	40.4%	50%	9.6%	1975

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SD (126 bridges here).

Bibb County, AL · 126 bridges
Coosa County, AL · 126 bridges
Lawrence County, AR · 126 bridges
Coffee County, GA · 126 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SD (1961 here).

Westchester County, NY · avg 1961 · 774 bridges
Tehama County, CA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Berkshire County, MA · avg 1961 · 450 bridges
Schuylkill County, PA · avg 1961 · 368 bridges

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

All 126 Good 31 Fair 58 Poor 37

All bridges (126)

Sort:

Hand County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Hand County's Poor-condition bridges carry 968 vehicle crossings a day

65.9% of Hand County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 6.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Hand 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 (126)

363 AVE

374 AVE

363 AVE

US014

369TH AVE

355TH AVE

203RD ST

206TH ST

363RD AVE

368 AVE

359TH AVE

369TH AVE

369TH AVE

363RD AVE

348TH AVE

355 AVE

218TH ST

358TH AVE

174 ST

205TH ST

361 AVE

361ST AVE

362 AVE

189 ST

366 AVE

368 AVE

196TH ST

213TH ST

177 ST

370 AVE

373 AVE

372ND AVE

373RD AVE

373RD AVE

374TH AVE

374TH AVE

198TH ST

369TH AVE

US014

US014

SD045

176 ST

SD026

US014

182 ST

151 AVE

SD045

US014

SD045

SD045

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