Total bridges
384
Public highway bridges in Bristol County
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.
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.
When Bristol County's bridges were built
384 bridges with a recorded construction year, grouped by decade
- pre-1900 23
Built before 1900
23 bridges
- 1900s 14
1900–1909
14 bridges
- 1910s 5
1910–1919
5 bridges
- 1920s 5
1920–1929
5 bridges
- 1930s 12
1930–1939
12 bridges
- 1940s 9
1940–1949
9 bridges
- 1950s
1950–1959
62 bridges
- 1960s
1960–1969
117 bridges
- 1970s
1970–1979
53 bridges
- 1980s 14
1980–1989
14 bridges
- 1990s 12
1990–1999
12 bridges
- 2000s 25
2000–2009
25 bridges
- 2010s 31
2010–2019
31 bridges
- 2020s 2
2020–2029
2 bridges
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.
| 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.
Good-condition bridges (116)
HWY W BRITANNIA
GoodOver: WATER MILL RIVER
@ REED AND BARTON, Bristol, MA
Built 1850 Load: 57.3 t ADT: 4,958
HWY RAMP C
GoodOver: HWY POCASSET ST
RT79/RT138 TO I-195WB, Bristol, MA
Built 2016 Load: 58.3 t ADT: 9,100
HWY SCHOOL ST
GoodOver: RR AMTRAK/MBTA
AMTRAK MILE POST 202, Bristol, MA
Built 2004 Load: 59.4 t ADT: 10,988
ST123 WEST ST
GoodOver: WATER SEVEN MILE RIVER
AT SEVEN MILE RIVER, Bristol, MA
Built 1967 Load: 60.1 t ADT: 11,715
HWY BRIDGE ST
GoodOver: RR MBTA (ABANDONED)
.2 MI WEST OF RTE 138, Bristol, MA
Built 1937 Load: 61.6 t ADT: 1,300
HWY COUNTY ST
GoodOver: WATER SEVEN MILE RIVER
.5 MI SW OF READ ST, Bristol, MA
Built 1950 Load: 62.3 t ADT: 12,414
HWY WILLIAMS ST
GoodOver: WATER WADING RIVER
AT ROBINSON POND, Bristol, MA
Built 2004 Load: 62.6 t ADT: 500
ST152 N MAIN ST
GoodOver: WATER BUNGAY RIVER
@ COLONAL BLAKINGTON INN, Bristol, MA
Built 2012 Load: 63.9 t ADT: 15,000
HWY FISHER ST
GoodOver: WATER THREE MILE RIVER
.4 MI FROM N WALKER ST, Bristol, MA
Built 2004 Load: 68.8 t ADT: 3,200
HWY COHANNET ST
GoodOver: WATER THREE MILE RIVER
JUST S OF JCT RTE 44, Bristol, MA
Built 2004 Load: 69.5 t ADT: 1,000
HWY OLD SMRST AV
GoodOver: WATER THREE MILE RIVER
JUST WEST ST 138, Bristol, MA
Built 2009 Load: 74.2 t ADT: 1,034
HWY OLIVE ST
GoodOver: RR AMTRAK/MBTA
RR AMTRAK MP 196.72, Bristol, MA
Built 2013 Load: 74.5 t ADT: 6,077
HWY LTTLE RIV RD
GoodOver: WATER LITTLE RIVER
1 M W OF SMITH NECK RD, Bristol, MA
Built 2004 Load: 77.3 t ADT: 258
ST177 AMER LGN HWY
GoodOver: WATER BREAD CHEESE BROOK
1.1 MI E OF ST 88, Bristol, MA
Built 1941 Load: 83.7 t ADT: 6,643
I 295
GoodOver: WATER SEVEN MILE RIVER
.2 MI E OF US 1, Bristol, MA
Built 1966 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 43,451
ST104 S MAIN ST
GoodOver: WATER FORGE RIVER
1 MI NE OF US 44, Bristol, MA
Built 1965 Load: 99.9 t ADT: 13,190
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.