Daily Ranger - Still More to Do on Reservation Roads

Op-Ed

By Senator John Barrasso

Last year, the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes on the Wind River Indian Reservation, along with the state of Wyoming, completed construction of what is commonly called 17 Mile Road, which runs between Ethete and Riverton and was notorious for the accidents it caused and the lives that had been lost driving on it.

The project straightened and widened the road, while also laying down a new paved surface. Thanks to the diligent efforts of the tribes and the state, 17 Mile Road is much safer today.

Despite the significant improvements from this one project, more work needs to be done on the Wind River Indian Reservation. According to the University of Wyoming, when compared to the rest of Wyoming's state and local roads, Wind River has the highest rate of serious car crashes.

The reservation leads the state in motor vehicle crashes involving young adults ages 24 to 34. The rate of alcohol-related car accidents on the reservation is more than three times higher than the rest of the state.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, from 2004 to 2010 Wyoming had one of the five highest motor vehicle-related death rates among American Indians.

These numbers are not unique to Wind River. They are representative of an epidemic of dangerous roads across Indian Country.

"Two Indian people die in one day, every day in America." This troubling statement was shared last week with the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs during an oversight hearing by witnesses that face potentially deadly situations on a daily basis. John Smith, the director of the Department of Transportation for the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes of the Wind River Indian Reservation, testified "Why is this? It's simply put: Bad roads and, more often, unpaved roads."

Nationwide, just 17 percent of tribal roads were deemed acceptable by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). According to the Federal Highway Administration, 70 percent of tribal roads remain unpaved, and 14 percent of bridges are structurally deficient.

The CDC lists motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death for Native American children. Dangerous roads and impaired drivers lead to more accidents, more serious injuries, and more deaths.

The federal government, through the BIA, manages roughly 30,000 roads in Indian Country. There are many more tribal roads that BIA does not manage, and the federal government has a responsibility to help with these as well. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, I am committed to working with tribes to find solutions to dangerous roads.

The committee's hearing featured testimony by experts from across the country. Two of these experts worked closely together to repair and redesign 17 Mile Road: John Smith and Delbert McOmie, chief engineer for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

Thanks to their hard work, the 17 Mile Road project has been a resounding success. According to Mr. Smith's testimony, only one major accident has occurred on the road since it opened in October 2013. Mr. Smith credited the coordinated programs between the tribes and the state.

In his written testimony, Mr. Smith told the Committee, "We have also instituted culturally geared traffic safety messaging that is in English as well as the Arapaho and Shoshone languages, and we coordinated with the University of Wyoming to prepare a reservation-wide Traffic Safety Plan and are coordinating these initiatives with the state of Wyoming."

The message was clear: cooperation is the key. As Mr. McOmie said, "Improving the transportation system in and near a tribal reservation depends on effective communication, planning, and participation among the state, the tribe, and political subdivisions, as well as citizens and stakeholders."

We must work to ensure that federal agencies, such as the BIA, provide all the necessary flexibility the tribes need to move forward faster with road and bridge rehabilitation and construction projects.

We need to pursue policies that guarantee that a majority of highway and road safety funds are actually spent on safety, not on bureaucracy and administrative work. We also need to find better ways to allow for states to work with tribes through data sharing and using that data to improve road safety.

The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes' partnership with the State of Wyoming to improve 17 Mile Road should be seen as an example.

It is encouraging that something as simple as cooperation can facilitate saving lives. Two lives a day is worth the effort.

Together we can make the roads safer on the Wind River Indian Reservation and in all tribal communities.

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