County profile · official public datasets

Kent County, RI

115 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.7% rated Good, 62.6% Fair, 15.7% Poor.

115
Public bridges: 21.7%
Good condition: 15.7%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

4th
of 5 on Poor share: 15.7%
Poor-condition share: 115
public highway bridges: 1972
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.

Kent County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Kent County ranks #4 of 5 Rhode Island counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 15.7%). Kent County, Rhode Island contains 115 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.7% are rated “Good,” 62.6% “Fair,” and 15.7% “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

115

Public highway bridges in Kent County

Good condition

21.7%

25 of 115 rated 7-9

Fair condition

62.6%

72 of 115 rated 5-6

Poor condition

15.7%

18 of 115 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#4 of 5

Among Rhode Island counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 115 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.7% (25)

Fair

62.6% (72)

Poor

15.7% (18)

Kent County's Poor-condition bridges carry 407,894 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 15.7% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 22,661 crossings a day against 14,616 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 115 of 115 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

63.5% of Kent County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

73 of the 115 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 21.7% 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 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-95 NB & SB over JEFFERSON BLVD, built 1966, carries 146,680 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 18-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 407,894 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

1
1900s

1
1910s

3
1920s

8
1930s

4
1950s

11
1960s

42
1970s

8
1980s

5
1990s

5
2000s

10
2010s

10
2020s

7

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 42 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 36.5% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1972) matches the Rhode Island average (1969).

How Kent County compares with Rhode Island's closest counties by inventory size

The 4 Rhode Island counties nearest Kent County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 15.7% Poor share is the 4th-lowest of these 5. Its average build year of 1972 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Kent County and the 4 Rhode Island counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Providence County	476	23.3%	60.3%	16.4%	1968
Washington County	145	20.7%	66.9%	12.4%	1967
Kent County (this page)	115	21.7%	62.6%	15.7%	1972
Newport County	37	21.6%	67.6%	10.8%	1974
Bristol County	10	50%	40%	10%	1980

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 Kent 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 Kent County, both outside Rhode Island so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside RI (115 bridges here).

Alachua County, FL · 115 bridges
Walton County, GA · 115 bridges
Latah County, ID · 115 bridges
Whitley County, IN · 115 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside RI (1972 here).

Santa Clara County, CA · avg 1972 · 964 bridges
Madison County, AL · avg 1972 · 710 bridges
Kern County, CA · avg 1972 · 668 bridges
York County, PA · avg 1972 · 569 bridges

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

All 115 Good 25 Fair 72 Poor 18

All bridges (115)

Sort:

Kent County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Kent County's Poor-condition bridges carry 407,894 vehicle crossings a day

63.5% of Kent County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 36% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Kent County compares with Rhode Island'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 (115)

Tillinghast Rd

I-295 SB

I-295 Ramp

I-295 NB

FACTORY ST

WHISPER PINE RD

RI 33 PROVIDNCE ST

I-295 SB

RI 33 PROVIDNCE ST

I-295 NB

RI 5 GREENWICH AV

I-295 NB

I-295 SB

MIDDLE RD

RI 117 CNTRVLLE RD

RI 117 MAIN STREET

SOUTH RD

SOUTH MAIN ST

RI 113 MAIN AV

RI 37 WB

RI 2 NB BLD HLL RD

RI 2 NB BLD HLL RD

AIRPORT ELEV RDWY

RI 37 EB

RI 403

RI 37 EB

RI 403

RI 117 FLAT RVR RD

SERVICE AV

RI 37 EB

RI 37 WB

AIRPORT CONNECTOR

RI 115 MAIN ST

FAIRVIEW AV

RI 402 FRNCHTWN RD

I-95 NB & SB

AIRPORT CONNECTOR

AIRPORT CONNECTOR

AIRPORT CONNECTOR

RI 117 CNTRVLLE RD

NEW LONDON TRNPK

AIRPORT ELEV RDWY

SHIPPEETOWN RD

US 1 SB BY-PASS

RI 3 NSNCK HILL RD

METRO CENTER DRIVE

RI 4 NB & SB

US 1 NB BY-PASS

Lake Shore Drive

I-95 NB & SB

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