County profile · official public datasets

Martin County, KY

70 public highway bridges tracked in the FHWA National Bridge Inventory: 28.6% rated Good, 58.6% Fair, 12.9% Poor.

70
Public bridges: 28.6%
Good condition: 12.9%
Poor condition

The verdict

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

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

112th
of 120 on Poor share: 12.9%
Poor-condition share: 70
public highway bridges: 1985
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.

Martin County Bridge Snapshot

According to the Federal Highway Administration's 2024 National Bridge Inventory, Martin County ranks #112 of 120 Kentucky counties with at least 5 public highway bridges on Poor-condition share (lower share ranks better; currently 12.9%). Martin County, Kentucky contains 70 public highway bridges. Roughly 28.6% are rated “Good,” 58.6% “Fair,” and 12.9% “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 Martin County

Good condition

28.6%

20 of 70 rated 7-9

Fair condition

58.6%

41 of 70 rated 5-6

Poor condition

12.9%

9 of 70 rated 4 or below

In-state Poor-share rank

#112 of 120

Among Kentucky counties with 5+ bridges, lower share ranks better

Condition distribution

Share of 70 NBI-tracked bridges by lowest applicable component rating.

Good

28.6% (20)

Fair

58.6% (41)

Poor

12.9% (9)

Martin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,528 vehicle crossings a day

That is 8.6% of the county's reported daily bridge traffic on 12.9% of its bridges: Poor-condition structures carry less traffic than their share of the inventory. Each Poor bridge averages 836 crossings a day against 1,743 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 70 of 70 bridges in this county that report an average daily traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

22.9% of Martin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

16 of the 70 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 28.6% 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 63.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

KY-40 over Rockcastle Creek, built 1953, carries 4,804 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 9-bridge count understates how much of the daily burden sits on a single crossing.

Share is of the 7,528 daily crossings on Poor-rated bridges that report a traffic count. Source: FHWA National Bridge Inventory, 2024 release.

1920s

2
1930s

2
1950s

4
1960s

4
1970s

13
1980s

18
1990s

12
2000s

6
2010s

6
2020s

3

What this shows Construction peaked in the 1980s, when 18 of the county's bridges still in the inventory were built, which is 25.7% of those with a recorded year. That cohort is now 35 to 44 years old in the 2024 inventory. Its average build year is 1985, 7 years newer than the Kentucky average of 1978.

How Martin County compares with Kentucky's closest counties by inventory size

The 5 Kentucky counties nearest Martin County in number of bridges, with their condition splits. Its 12.9% Poor share is the 6th-lowest of these 6. Its average build year of 1985 against a peer-group mean of 1973 is 12 years newer.

Showing the 5 closest of 119 Kentucky counties eligible for comparison.

Bridge inventory size and condition shares for Martin County and the 5 Kentucky counties closest to it in inventory size
County	Bridges	Good	Fair	Poor	Avg. built
Carlisle County	74	35.1%	62.2%	2.7%	1973
Hancock County	70	8.6%	88.6%	2.9%	1975
Monroe County	70	15.7%	77.1%	7.1%	1965
Martin County (this page)	70	28.6%	58.6%	12.9%	1985
Carroll County	68	13.2%	75%	11.8%	1970
Garrard County	67	25.4%	68.7%	6%	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 Martin 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 Martin County, both outside Kentucky so the neighborhoods are not the same-state size table above.

Similar inventory size

Nearest county inventories outside KY (70 bridges here).

Jefferson County, FL · 70 bridges
Jasper County, GA · 70 bridges
Treutlen County, GA · 70 bridges
Turner County, GA · 70 bridges

Similar average build year

Nearest mean year-built outside KY (1985 here).

Hillsborough County, FL · avg 1985 · 840 bridges
Lancaster County, NE · avg 1985 · 661 bridges
Nueces County, TX · avg 1985 · 528 bridges
Grayson County, TX · avg 1985 · 513 bridges

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

All 70 Good 20 Fair 41 Poor 9

All bridges (70)

Sort:

Martin County Bridge Snapshot

Condition distribution

Martin County's Poor-condition bridges carry 7,528 vehicle crossings a day

22.9% of Martin County's bridges have passed the 50-year mark

One structure carries 63.8% of the county's Poor-condition bridge traffic

How Martin County compares with Kentucky'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 (70)

Sherril Spence Rd

Pine Tree Rd

Lower Saltwell Rd

KY-1439

KY-40

KY-1714

Tomahawk Est Rd

MIDDLEFRK DAVIS BR

KY-1224

Groundhog Hollow

Bill Stepp Br

Mullet Br

KY-3

KY-292

WICKERFIELD RD

Camp Branch

Moore Branch

BIG PETER CAVE RD

KY-40

KY-908

KY-3

KY-3

KY-3

KY-40

Stepp Br Btm

KY-3

KY-3

MILO SUBDIVISION R

KY-1439

KY-645 NC

KY-645

KY-3

CARDINAL LN

KY-3

Little Laurel Crk

KY-3 NC

James Ln

TRACE FORK

WHITE OAK RD

KY-3

BECCA LIZ LANE

KY-645

Ratliff Town Rd

Blackberry Bridge

KY-645 RAMP KY-40

KY-292

KY-3 RMP to KY-645

Rockhouse Mills Rd

KY-3411

Hunters Lane

Related