County profile · official public datasets

Providence County, RI

476 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 23.3% rated Good, 60.3% Fair, 16.4% Poor.

476
Public bridges: 23.3%
Good condition: 16.4%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

5th
of 5 on Poor share: 16.4%
Poor-condition share: 476
public highway bridges: 1968
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.

Providence County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Providence County ranks #5 of 5 Rhode Island counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 16.4%). Providence County, Rhode Island contains 476 public highway bridges. Roughly 23.3% are rated “Good,” 60.3% “Fair,” and 16.4% “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

476

Public highway bridges in Providence County

Good condition

23.3%

111 of 476 rated 7-9

Fair condition

60.3%

287 of 476 rated 5-6

Poor condition

16.4%

78 of 476 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#5 of 5

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

Condition distribution

Share of 476 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

23.3% (111)

Fair

60.3% (287)

Poor

16.4% (78)

Providence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,734,366 vehicle crossings a day

That is 15.8% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 16.2% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 22,524 crossings a day against 27,007 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 474 of 476 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

62% of Providence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

295 of the 476 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 23.3% 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 9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

I-95 NB & SB over THURBERS AV, built 1963, carries 156,790 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 78-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 1,734,366 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

pre-1900

23
1900s

19
1910s

14
1920s

26
1930s

15
1940s

8
1950s

57
1960s

115
1970s

28
1980s

29
1990s

22
2000s

25
2010s

51
2020s

44

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1960s, when 115 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 24.2% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 55 to 64 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year (1968) matches the Rhode Island average (1969).

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

The 4 Rhode Island counties nearest Providence County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 16.4% Poor share is the 5th-lowest of these 5. Its average build year of 1968 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 5 years older.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Providence County and the 4 Rhode Island counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Providence County (this page)	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	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 Providence 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 Providence County, both outside Rhode Island so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside RI (476 bridges here).

Johnson County, MO · 476 bridges
Grant County, OK · 476 bridges
Tangipahoa County, LA · 477 bridges
Kiowa County, OK · 477 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside RI (1968 here).

Montgomery County, PA · avg 1968 · 828 bridges
San Joaquin County, CA · avg 1968 · 644 bridges
Imperial County, CA · avg 1968 · 444 bridges
Humboldt County, CA · avg 1968 · 396 bridges

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

All 476 Good 111 Fair 287 Poor 78

All bridges (476)

Sort:

Providence County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Providence County's Poor-condition bridges carry 1,734,366 vehicle crossings a day

62% of Providence County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 9% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Providence 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 (476)

RI 5&116 PLSNT VW

I-295 NB

RI 12 PARK AV

COLVIN ST

I-95 RAMP BR-2

RI 10 HUNTNGTN EXP

I-95 NB

I-95 SB

ELM ST/CMBRLND RD

OLD DANIELSON PIKE

GAZZA RD

RI 2 NEWLONDONAVE

TAUNTON AV RAMP

US 44 SMITH ST

I-95 N SERVICE RD

I-295 NB

RI 126 Smithfield

EXCHANGE ST

I-195 Ramp EI

RI 146 NB

US 1 BROADWAY

SEEKONK RIVER CROS

I-95 NB & SB

INDUSTRIAL DRIVE

STEEPLE ST

I-195 W to I-95 SB

MILFORD ST

VETERANS MEM PKWY

BRANCH AV

FRANCIS ST

PONTIAC AV

RI 146 ED DOWL HWY

GLEANER CHAPEL RD

FOUNTAIN ST

GARDEN ST

BROADWAY

EAST SCHOOL ST

Park Row

I-195 EB & WB

CLADRASTIS AVE

ROGER WILLIAMS AV

RI 12 TUNK HILL RD

GEORGE ST

CRANSTON ST

I-295 SB

BLACKSTONE ST

CENTRAL PIKE

I-95 NB & SB

RI 146 NB OFF RAMP

LANE H

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