Total bridges
14
Public highway bridges in McPherson County
County profile · official public datasets
McPherson County, SD
14 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 35.7% rated Good, 64.3% Fair, 0% Poor.
- 14
- Public bridges
- 35.7%
- Good condition
- 0%
- Poor condition
The verdict
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory.
McPherson County posts a top-10% lowest Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across rated county bridge inventory.
- Top 6%
- lowest Poor share in state
- 0%
- Poor-condition share
- 14
- public highway bridges
- 1978
- 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.
McPherson County Bridge Snapshot
According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, McPherson County ranks #4 of 66 South Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 0%). McPherson County, South Dakota contains 14 public highway bridges. Roughly 35.7% are rated “Good,” 64.3% “Fair,” and 0% “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
35.7%
5 of 14 rated 7-9
Fair condition
64.3%
9 of 14 rated 5-6
Poor condition
0%
0 of 14 rated 4 or below
In-state Poor-share rank
#4 of 66
Among South Dakota counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better
Condition distribution
Share of 14 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.
Good 35.7% (5)
Fair 64.3% (9)
Poor 0% (0)
50% of McPherson County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark
7 of the 14 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 35.7% 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.
When McPherson County's bridges were built
14 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- 1930s 1
1930–1939
1 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
6 bridges
- 1980s 1
1980–1989
1 bridges
- 1990s
1990–1999
3 bridges
- 2010s 2
2010–2019
2 bridges
- 2020s 1
2020–2029
1 bridges
What this shows Construction peaked in the 1950s, when 6 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 42.9% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 65 to 74 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1978) matches the South Dakota average (1975).
How McPherson County compares with South Dakota's closest counties by inventory size
The 5 South Dakota counties nearest McPherson County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 0% Poor share is the 3rd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1978 against a peer-group mean of 1978 is in line with the group.
Showing the 5 closest of 65 South Dakota counties eligible for comparison.
| County | Bridges | Good | Fair | Poor | Avg. built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hyde County | 23 | 34.8% | 39.1% | 26.1% | 1974 |
| Clark County | 20 | 60% | 40% | 0% | 1987 |
| Edmunds County | 20 | 35% | 40% | 25% | 1991 |
| Bennett County | 15 | 26.7% | 53.3% | 20% | 1962 |
| Campbell County | 15 | 46.7% | 53.3% | 0% | 1978 |
| McPherson County (this page) | 14 | 35.7% | 64.3% | 0% | 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 McPherson 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 McPherson County, both outside South Dakota so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.
Similar inventory size
Nearest county inventories outside SD (14 bridges here).
- Seward County, KS · 14 bridges
- Rock County, NE · 14 bridges
- Barranquitas County, PR · 14 bridges
- Yakutat City and County, AK · 15 bridges
Similar average build year
Nearest mean year-built outside SD (1978 here).
- Orange County, CA · avg 1978 · 1,164 bridges
- Sumner County, KS · avg 1978 · 659 bridges
- Allen County, IN · avg 1978 · 613 bridges
- Livingston County, IL · avg 1978 · 579 bridges
Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release. Peers floor at 10 bridges so stub inventories cannot own the match.
All bridges (14)
371st Avenue
FairOver: Foot Creek
2.3N of Wetonka, McPherson, SD
Built 1956 Load: 21.9 t ADT: 95
SD047
FairOver: CK
4.7 N JCT SD 10, McPherson, SD
Built 1954 Load: 24.3 t ADT: 143
371st Avenue
FairOver: Willow Creek
2.1 S & 8 E of Leola, McPherson, SD
Built 1990 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 95
SD010
FairOver: NORTH BR WILLOW CK
6.6 E JCT SD 45 S, McPherson, SD
Built 1957 Load: 25.5 t ADT: 762
SD010
FairOver: FOOT CK
1.4 E JCT SD 45 S, McPherson, SD
Built 1957 Load: 25.8 t ADT: 762
SD010
FairOver: CK
5.6 E JCT SD 45, McPherson, SD
Built 1957 Load: 41.4 t ADT: 762
SD045
FairOver: CK
1.3 SOUTH OF LEOLA, McPherson, SD
Built 1996 Load: 42.5 t ADT: 352
SD045
FairOver: CK
3.3 SOUTH OF LEOLA, McPherson, SD
Built 1996 Load: 49.9 t ADT: 352
SD045
FairOver: SPRING CK
3.6 S NORTH DAKOTA LINE, McPherson, SD
Built 1933 Load: 89.8 t ADT: 178
SD010
GoodOver: TRIB TO FOOT CK
1.9 W OF SD45 JCT, McPherson, SD
Built 2014 Load: 18.5 t ADT: 746
363rd Avenue
GoodOver: Creek
0.5E & 6.6N of Leola, McPherson, SD
Built 1952 Load: 24.5 t ADT: 218
363rd Avenue
GoodOver: Foot Creek
0.2N of Leola, McPherson, SD
Built 2021 Load: 35.6 t ADT: 218
SD047
GoodOver: SPRING CK
8.2 N JCT SD 10, McPherson, SD
Built 1988 Load: 49.1 t ADT: 70
324th Avenue
GoodOver: Spring Creek
3.5W & 7.3N of Eureka, McPherson, SD
Built 2017 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 21
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.