• Originally published July 16, 2008 at 6:58 p.m., updated July 16, 2008 at 6:58 p.m.

The news was welcomed that the Texas Department of Transportation awarded grants to rural transportation systems in our eight-county region in the amount of $535,499.

TxDOT awarded such rural transportation systems a total of $36.4 million statewide (Advocate, Page B6, Wednesday).

The state funds help rural transportation systems match federal funds that funnel down to the rural systems. The funds are used to upgrade fleets and buy fuel for the ever-important job of transporting people in rural areas.

So one might ask how the transportation department can dole out money when it is in financial trouble in terms of building new highways or maintaining the ones we have?

No doubt, the funds are needed to keep rural-system providers in business transporting the elderly, those who do not have their own vehicles, people to make doctors’ appointments and the disabled to and from destinations.

“We have federal dollars that come down and go to the providers,” said Lonnie Gregorcyk, TxDOT district engineer in Yoakum. “There’s a lot of people out there who rely on these services.” Gregorcyk said the state program for the funds is traditional. “We have allocated these funds for rural programs.”

He called the funds “safety dollars.” The funds are in a state project “that will help to save lives,” he said. And the funds help to keep rural transportation systems running.

Also, the funds awarded are coming from those allocated in the new fiscal year that begins in September.

“We are drawing down from it,” he said. “There have been instances where we’ve used discretionary money to offset fuel (costs).”

The Victoria Transit System received $238,496 of the state funds. As Lisa Cortinas, director of transportation services for the Golden Crescent Regional Planning Commission, told Advocate reporter Sonny Long, “Fares only make up about 5 or 6 percent of our budget, so these state funds are critical in helping us match federal grant funds that keep the systems running.”

We see the rural transportation systems as an important aid to those in rural areas who otherwise would be hard pressed to travel. Even in the city, the transit system helps those who do not have a vehicle to make it to their jobs, to the grocery store or to medical appointments.

The state funds to help rural systems are a welcomed benefit.

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