County profile · official public datasets

Meade County, SD

215 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 43.7% rated Good, 45.6% Fair, 10.7% Poor.

215
Public bridges: 43.7%
Good condition: 10.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Meade County posts a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state across mid-size county bridge inventory.

Top 36%
lowest Poor share in state: 10.7%
Poor-condition share: 215
public highway bridges: 1979
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.

Meade County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Meade County ranks #24 of 66 South Dakota counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.7%). Meade County, South Dakota contains 215 public highway bridges. Roughly 43.7% are rated “Good,” 45.6% “Fair,” and 10.7% “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.

Total bridges

215

Public highway bridges in Meade County

Good condition

43.7%

94 of 215 rated 7-9

Fair condition

45.6%

98 of 215 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.7%

23 of 215 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#24 of 66

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

Condition distribution

Share of 215 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

43.7% (94)

Fair

45.6% (98)

Poor

10.7% (23)

Meade County's Poor-condition bridges carry 925 vehicle crossings a day

That is 0.2% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 40 crossings a day against 2,450 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 215 of 215 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

50.7% of Meade County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

109 of the 215 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 43.7% 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.

One structure carries 25.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

STONEVILLE RD. over CK, built 1970, carries 233 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 23-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 925 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

3
1930s

7
1940s

8
1950s

33
1960s

44
1970s

26
1980s

14
1990s

16
2000s

32
2010s

26
2020s

6

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 44 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 20.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1979) matches the South Dakota average (1975).

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

The 5 South Dakota counties nearest Meade County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.7% Poor share is the 1st-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1979 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 6 years newer.

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

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Meade County and the 5 South Dakota counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Brookings County	233	26.6%	50.6%	22.7%	1973
Meade County (this page)	215	43.7%	45.6%	10.7%	1979
Lincoln County	207	34.3%	48.3%	17.4%	1973
Grant County	205	35.1%	48.8%	16.1%	1980
Spink County	176	13.6%	52.8%	33.5%	1957
Brown County	170	32.9%	55.3%	11.8%	1983

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

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside SD (215 bridges here).

Lawrence County, AL · 215 bridges
Idaho County, ID · 215 bridges
Terrebonne County, LA · 215 bridges
Marshall County, MN · 215 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside SD (1979 here).

Pima County, AZ · avg 1979 · 1,150 bridges
Jefferson County, KY · avg 1979 · 662 bridges
Spartanburg County, SC · avg 1979 · 638 bridges
McPherson County, KS · avg 1979 · 586 bridges

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

All 215 Good 94 Fair 98 Poor 23

Good-condition bridges (94)

Sort:

Meade County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Meade County's Poor-condition bridges carry 925 vehicle crossings a day

50.7% of Meade County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 25.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Meade 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

Good-condition bridges (94)

DUREN

AVALANCH RD.

BOXELDER FORKS CG

AVANCE RD.

SD079

Spring Valley Road

CROOK CITY ROAD

WHITEWOOD RD

SLY STREET

VANOCKER CANYON RD

BEAR BUTTE RD.

194TH AVE.

197TH AVE

130TH AVENUE

CEMETERY RD.

COLONY PL.

NINE MILE RD.

ELK CREEK RD.

ELK CREEK RD.

139TH AVE.

ELK CREEK RD.

ELK VALE RD.

ELK VALE RD.

OPAL RD.

FOX RIDGE RD.

UNITED SCHOOL RD.

I090 W

MARSHALL STREET

SD034

I090 W

I090 E

FULTON STREET

WHITE GATES

SD034

I090

I090 EF

SD034

SD231 SER RD

WICKSVILLE RD

I090 W

OPAL RD.

JUNCTION AVENUE

BLOODY GULCH

I090 EF

I090 EF

I090 E

ELK VALE RD.

NORTH HAINES AVE.

SD034

PLEASANT VALLEY RD

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