A $1.47 million contract to perform routine repair and upgrading of metal beam guard fence on U.S. Highway 31 in Navarro County was awarded to a Navarro County firm and the Community Transit Service of Corsicana drew glowing praise at the regular meeting of the Texas Transportation Commission in Austin on Thursday, June 26.

The contract for year-long maintenance of the metal guard rail went to Fortson Contracting, Inc. of Rice which submitted the low bid of $1,474,135. It was one of 20 similar contracts awarded by unanimous vote of the commission, including a pair on IH 35 and State Highway 34 in Ellis County.

The Ellis County contracts went to Lindsey Contractors, Inc., of Waco and Reliant Sand and Construction, Inc. of Rosharon.

The glowing praise of the record of Community Transit Service, which serves Navarro and Ellis counties, came earlier during testimony supporting the allocation of state funds for public transportation grants in areas outside the major urban centers of the state.

Loren “Ben” Herr, executive director of the Texas Transit Association, singled out Community Transit Service for particular praise as an example the success of such grants. TTA is a non-profit professional association of metropolitan and smaller transit districts.

“Community Transit Service of Navarro and Ellis County has recorded the largest increase in ridership of any rural transit authority,” Herr told the commissioners. “It has increased its number of vehicles from nine to 19 since 2006.”

After his testimony, Herr told The Times that CTS has recorded a 124-percent increase in ridership in the past two years. Transit director is Charlotte Clower. “She has done an excellent job,” Herr said.

CTS is an “on-demand” service available to any resident of the two counties it serves for just $1. In addition to state funds, the service also receives federal Medicare funds, the latter in recognition of its role in providing transportation to clients for medical treatments and physician appointments.

The commission Thursday authorized the allocation of more than $10 million in state funds for small urban and non-urbanized areas of the state. That level of funding is the same as last year.

Most of the commission’s time, however, and most of the testimony given Thursday concerned the Trans-Texas Corridor, specifically the I-69 segment of the Corridor from the Rio Grande Valley to Texarkana. No testimony was given on the I-35 Trans-Texas Corridor which passes through eastern Navarro County and which could utilize an estimated 3,200 acres in the county.

The commission Thursday approved the award of a $5 million grant for the development of a master plan for the I-69 segment to a partnership of San Antonio’s Zachry, Inc., and a Spanish firm that is one of the largest toll road operators in the world, ACS Infrastructure.They will develop a plan to develop the 650-mile network of super highways. The plan is to be delivered in a year to 18 months. This segment is part of Gov. Rick Perry’s controversial Trans-Texas Corridor.

The partnership suggested upgrading U.S. 77 to interstate freeway standards from Refugio County to the Rio Grande Valley and the establishment of tolls roads on portions of the route that bypass several communities. It also includes five other South Texas toll roads, three near Corpus Christi and two in the Valley.

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