County profile · official public datasets

Bristol County, MA

384 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 30.2% rated Good, 63.3% Fair, 6.5% Poor.

384
Public bridges: 30.2%
Good condition: 6.5%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

Top 38%
lowest Poor share in state: 6.5%
Poor-condition share: 384
public highway bridges: 1962
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.

Bristol County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Bristol County ranks #5 of 13 Massachusetts counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 6.5%). Bristol County, Massachusetts contains 384 public highway bridges. Roughly 30.2% are rated “Good,” 63.3% “Fair,” and 6.5% “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

384

Public highway bridges in Bristol County

Good condition

30.2%

116 of 384 rated 7-9

Fair condition

63.3%

243 of 384 rated 5-6

Poor condition

6.5%

25 of 384 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 13

Among Massachusetts counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 384 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

30.2% (116)

Fair

63.3% (243)

Poor

6.5% (25)

Bristol County's Poor-condition bridges carry 545,055 vehicle crossings a day

That is 7.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 6.5% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry more traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 21,802 crossings a day against 16,119 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 384 of 384 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

70.3% of Bristol County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

270 of the 384 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 30.2% 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 12.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I 195 over ST 18 ASHLEY BLVD, built 1965, carries 66,254 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 25-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 545,055 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

23
1900s

14
1910s

5
1920s

5
1930s

12
1940s

9
1950s

62
1960s

117
1970s

53
1980s

14
1990s

12
2000s

25
2010s

31
2020s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 117 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 30.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1962) matches the Massachusetts average (1961).

How Bristol County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Massachusetts counties nearest Bristol County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 6.5% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1962 against a peer-group mean of 1960 is in line with the group.

Showing the 5 closest of 12 Massachusetts counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Bristol County and the 5 Massachusetts counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Berkshire County	450	34.7%	57.6%	7.8%	1961
Hampden County	428	17.1%	75.5%	7.5%	1956
Essex County	395	15.9%	66.8%	17.2%	1957
Bristol County (this page)	384	30.2%	63.3%	6.5%	1962
Norfolk County	343	23.6%	71.4%	5%	1962
Franklin County	314	34.4%	54.5%	11.1%	1964

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 Bristol 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 Bristol County, both outside Massachusetts so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside MA (384 bridges here).

Custer County, OK · 384 bridges
Payne County, OK · 384 bridges
Lee County, MS · 385 bridges
Hillsborough County, NH · 385 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside MA (1962 here).

Berks County, PA · avg 1962 · 667 bridges
Pecos County, TX · avg 1962 · 470 bridges
Ottawa County, KS · avg 1962 · 295 bridges
Tillman County, OK · avg 1962 · 284 bridges

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

All 384 Good 116 Fair 243 Poor 25

Fair-condition bridges (243)

Sort:

Bristol County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Bristol County's Poor-condition bridges carry 545,055 vehicle crossings a day

70.3% of Bristol County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 12.2% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Bristol County compares with Massachusetts's closest counties by inventory size

Nationwide counties with similar inventory size or average build year

Similar inventory size

Similar average build year

Fair-condition bridges (243)

ST 24 SB

ST 24 NB

HWY CENTER ST

I 195

HWY PLEASANT ST

I 495 SB

I 495 NB

HWY CHURCH ST

HWY PIKE AVE

ST140 SB RMP ST18

US 6 WB

I 495 NB & RAMP E

I 495 SB

I 495 NB

I 95 NB

I 195

US 6 FALL RIV AVE

HWY POND ST NRTH

I 195 WB

I 195 EB

I 495 SB & ON RAMP

US 6 GAR HWY

I 95 NB

I 95 SB

HWY QUEQUECHAN

HWY CHURCH ST

HWY AIRPORT RD

I 195 WB

HWY HIXVILLE RD

ST 24 EXTENSION/RI

ST 24

HWY OLIVE ST

I 495 NB

ST104 N MAIN ST

HWY POND ST

US 44 WINTHROP ST

ST152 F J KELLY BL

I 95 SB

HWY HGHLND AV NB

US 1 WASHNGTON ST

ST140 S MAIN ST

I 95 SB

I 495 RAMP B

I 495 RAMP D NB

HWY STEVENS ST

I 495 NB

I 495 SB

HWY BRIDGE ST

HWY W BRITANNIA

HWY OLD CNTY RD

Related