BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Martin County Fiscal Court heard from Kentucky Transportation Cabinet section engineer Zach Wright Thursday during a special meeting. Wright presented project recommendations for the Rural Secondary Road Program for the county to review.

The total allotment for work on rural secondary roads within Martin County for fiscal year 2026 is $1,057,218. Of that, $475,400 will go to the state highway maintenance garage in Inez to maintain approximately 60 miles of rural secondary roads. The Flex Funds allotment, which the fiscal court may use at its discretion, totals $95,176. That leaves $486,643 for the Transportation Cabinet to use on three secondary roads in the county.

“This year it’s going to be patching,” Wright said of the three KYTC projects. He explained that the KYTC evaluates the county’s 60 miles of rural secondary roads annually and ranks them based on condition.

The KYTC recommends asphalt patching on three routes:

• KY-1439 (Meathouse Road): 2.25 miles
• KY-1884 (Milo Road between KY-645 and KY-40): 1 mile
• KY-1224 (Rockhouse Fork): 1.33 miles

“That’s all the projects that we are recommending this year,” Wight said.

Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty asked whether the KYTC completed its assessment after the recent flooding.

“Yes, actually, it was done in the past month, really,” Wright responded.

Lafferty said flooding caused “tremendous damage” to rural secondary roads.

“We have the same problem with county roads,” he added.

Magistrates pointed to serious damage on Old Route 3. Wright referred the court to a map he had provided before the meeting.

“Only the roads highlighted in yellow qualify for rural secondary funding,” he noted. “It’s typically rural roads, minor connectors and stuff like that.”

Wright also discussed projects that are not under the Rural Secondary Program, saying the KYTC plans to do this summer. Those include paving on Old Route 3 from Route 40 to the Lawrence County line, Route 40 from the football field to Charlie Maynard Road, and a portion of New Route 3.

District 1 Magistrate Cody Slone asked about Turkey Creek and Hode roads, where the KYTC repaired a break last year but did not complete paving.

“They didn’t finish the paving, and I was wondering if that is still in the works to get that paved from around Turkey Nazarene Church to KY-292,” Slone said.

Wright said KYTC opted not to include it this year due to spending money on that road last year.

“It’s definitely within the next year cycle,” he said.

Lafferty brought up Coldwater Road, where coal truck traffic has contributed to worsening road conditions.

“They’re bringing a lot of coal out of there,” said Lafferty. “I drove up through there the other day. There’s still a lot of patching that needs to be done. How does that work? They’re mining up there. Are they obligated to keep the road up?”

Wright said that coal severance tax once supported that type of road maintenance.

“I’ve never dealt with it,” he added. “I’m not sure the program exists anymore.”

“I would appreciate it if you take another look up Coldwater because some of those places are really bad,” Lafferty said. “There’s one area where the road is broken off and it’s dangerous.”

Wright said the state already has plans to repair that area of the road.

“We’re just waiting on the contractor,” he said.

Martin County Facilities Manager Eric Phelps suggested using coal company bonding money to cover repairs.

Rural secondary roads in Martin County include:

• KY-292 from the Kermit Bridge to KY-3 at the Lawrence County line (15.740 miles)
• KY-908 from near Parsons Branch to the KY-645 off-ramp (5.469 miles)
• KY-1224 from 2.31 miles south of Trace Fork via Davisport to KY-40 (5.16 miles)
• KY-1439 from the Pike County line to KY-2032 (10.733 miles)
• KY-1714 from Caney Fork at Laura to KY-1439 (5.15 miles)
• KY-1884 from KY-40 to KY-3 (5.161 miles)
• KY-2031 from KY-40 to KY-292 (5.14 miles)
• KY-2033 from KY-1884 near Milo to the Lawrence County line (1.09 miles)
• KY-3407 from the junction of Emily Road and Evans Hill Road to KY-1714 (2.407 miles)
• KY-3411 from KY-3 near Castle to KY-645 (0.49 miles)
• KY-3412 (1.62 miles)
• KY-3413 from KY-292 to the Lawrence County line (1.6 miles)