The tragical collapses of the Annone overpass in 2016, the Morandi bridge in 2018 and the motorway bridge on Magra river in 2020 have established the need of detailed regulations regarding bridge maintenance in the Italian territory. The first guidelines were issued in 2020 and after a revision in 2022 are subjected to further investigations to ensure the most effective and safer outcomes. The guidelines for risk classification and management, safety assessment and monitoring of existing bridges were used with the updated version of 2022 as issued by the relevant Italian Ministry. The first three levels of the analysis were applied to data coming from 19 reinforced concrete bridges of a highway located in northern Italy. These include, the census of all structures, the visual inspections with defects sheets, as well as the gross analysis of relevant risk with classification on a territorial scale. Based on this procedure, the outcomes are analysed and discussed, underlining the common defects that are present in specific bridges with their correlations. With the use of visual inspections of consecutive years, deteriorations that have occurred are highlighted. Specific examples of bridges maintenance thought the regulation process are presented and the significance of the new procedures of the guidelines on existing bridges is emphasized.