Mississippi Transportation Commission approves multiple contracts and authorizations, recesses to executive session on bankruptcy litigation

At a meeting of the Mississippi Transportation Commission, commissioners reviewed and authorized a broad set of project contracts, memoranda of understanding and administrative actions and recessed into executive session to hear a report on bankruptcy litigation affecting northeastern Mississippi.

The items covered construction planning and engineering contracts, a supplemental construction agreement, memoranda of understanding with local agencies for lighting and law-enforcement equipment, vehicle disposals under Federal Transit Administration procedures, routine administrative payments and personnel payrolls, and two proposed legal claims. Commissioners also heard a brief update on the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) program and its pending Federal Highway Administration review.

The approvals move multiple projects and administrative actions forward across the state, including preconstruction work on a Marshall County bridge, an environmental assessment submission to the Federal Highway Administration for interchange improvements in Forrest County, and construction and resurfacing projects in several counties. Several items carried specified dollar amounts or caps; several required follow-up approvals by federal or local partners or receipt of additional documentation before final actions could proceed.

Key actions and authorizations discussed or listed on the agenda included:

- Authorization to execute Work Summary No. 4 under the Garver LLC master contract to provide Phase B final construction plans for the bridge on Red Banks Road at U.S. 72 in Marshall County, not to exceed $287,864.25.

- Authorization to forward a draft environmental assessment with a preferred build alternative to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for interchange improvements at I-59 and U.S. 11 in Forrest County; FHWA concurrence and a subsequent public hearing were described as the next steps.

- Approval of a…