County profile · official public datasets

Newport County, RI

37 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 21.6% rated Good, 67.6% Fair, 10.8% Poor.

37
Public bridges: 21.6%
Good condition: 10.8%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

Newport County pairs a better-than-median Poor-condition share among rated counties in the state with a newer average build year than the state inventory.

Top 40%
lowest Poor share in state: 10.8%
Poor-condition share: 37
public highway bridges: 1974
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.

Newport County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Newport County ranks #2 of 5 Rhode Island counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 10.8%). Newport County, Rhode Island contains 37 public highway bridges. Roughly 21.6% are rated “Good,” 67.6% “Fair,” and 10.8% “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

Public highway bridges in Newport County

Good condition

21.6%

8 of 37 rated 7-9

Fair condition

67.6%

25 of 37 rated 5-6

Poor condition

10.8%

4 of 37 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#2 of 5

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

Condition distribution

Share of 37 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

21.6% (8)

Fair

67.6% (25)

Poor

10.8% (4)

Newport County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,806 vehicle crossings a day

That is 1.5% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 10.8% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 2,202 crossings a day against 20,116 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 37 of 37 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

64.9% of Newport County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

24 of the 37 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 21.6% 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 42.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

GOAT ISL CAUSEWAY over NEWPORT HARBOR, built 1965, carries 3,704 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 4-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 8,806 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1910s

1
1930s

2
1950s

2
1960s

19
1980s

1
1990s

8
2000s

2
2010s

2

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 19 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 51.4% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1974, 5 years newer than the Rhode Island average of 1969.

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

The 4 Rhode Island counties nearest Newport County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 10.8% Poor share is the 2nd-lowest of these 5. Its average build year of 1974 against a peer-group mean of 1972 is in line with the group.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Newport 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	115	21.7%	62.6%	15.7%	1972
Newport County (this page)	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 Newport 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 Newport County, both outside Rhode Island so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside RI (37 bridges here).

Sitka City and County, AK · 37 bridges
Suwannee County, FL · 37 bridges
Teton County, ID · 37 bridges
Dickinson County, MI · 37 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside RI (1974 here).

Knox County, TN · avg 1974 · 588 bridges
Summit County, OH · avg 1974 · 563 bridges
Onondaga County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges
Orange County, NY · avg 1974 · 472 bridges

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

All 37 Good 8 Fair 25 Poor 4

Fair-condition bridges (25)

Sort:

Newport County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Newport County's Poor-condition bridges carry 8,806 vehicle crossings a day

64.9% of Newport County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 42.1% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Newport 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

Fair-condition bridges (25)

RI 138

RI 138

RI 24 SB

RI 24 NB

HUMMOCKS POINT RD

RI 138

RI 77 MAIN RD

TRAINING STATION R

RI 24 NB

RI 138

RI 138

RI 24 NB

RI 24 RAMP C

RI 24 SB

RI 24 SB

PERRY ROAD

RI 138

RI 24 SB

RI 24 NB

RI 138 WB

RI 138 EASTBOUND

SPRAGUE ST

RI 24 NB

RI 24 SB

RI 24 - W APP 250

Related