A section of U.S. 89 on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation collapsed in February 2013. The state Department of Transportation has since repaired the highway. Photo from Facebook
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held an oversight hearing this afternoon on road safety in Indian Country. The committee heard from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and tribal and state officials on the need to improve roads and bridges on reservations. But the hearing was somewhat rushed due to a series of votes on the Senate floor that kept members away.
Indianz.Com SoundCloud: Senate Indian Affairs Committee April 22 2015
'There are many roads and bridges on Indian reservations in desperate need of improvement," observed Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyoming), the chairman of the committee. "There are many reservation roads which are quite hazardous to traverse, Barrasso added, citing statistics from the BIA that show that more than 80 percent of the roads in Indian Country are considered to be in "poor" and "unacceptable" conditions. According to the BIA's Indian Reservation Roads program, there are more than 102,000 miles of roads in Indian Country. Only about 29,000 miles are owned by the BIA and tribes while the remainder fall under state and local jurisdiction. The hearing lasted about an hour. Audio can be found on the Indianz.Com SoundCloud. Committee Notice:
Tribal Transportation: Pathways to Safer Roads in Indian Country (April 22, 2015)
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