North Dakota tribes receive $19.5 million to improve road safety

FARGO — The U.S. Division of Transportation has awarded $19.5 million to the North Dakota Division of Transportation for use to assist the Tribal Security Mission.

The undertaking will embrace the set up of roundabouts, flip lanes, lighting and rumble strips to enhance security on the Standing Rock and Fort Berthold Indian reservations after problematic areas had been recognized in a 2017 Roadway Security Assessment.

The cash comes from the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Fairness grant program together with the Rural Alternatives to Use Transportation for Financial Success initiative, in line with a press launch issued by state legislators.

Standing Rock obtained $762,500 to go towards a complete undertaking price of $1.5 million with the remainder of the $19.5 million going to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, stated Janet Alkire, chairwoman of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.

“I’m excited that our North Dakota congressional delegation has acknowledged the general public security wants of each our tribes and hope that they’ll see the dire want to assist humorous repairs of the lethal roads on Standing Rock,” Alkire stated.

Mark Fox, chairman of the MHA Nation, stated the funding will likely be put to good use.

“Public security is at all times a precedence. This funding will assist ease among the burden that’s placed on our roads and current infrastructure every single day from the oil and fuel trade,” Fox stated.

Alkire stated Standing Rock provides a “huge tourism trade, wealthy in Native American historical past and tradition, however sadly our highway community doesn’t match the wonder and may be thought-about by many as a deterrent.”

With President Joe Biden’s infrastructure invoice, Alkire is hopeful Standing Rock will proceed to obtain funding for his or her “long-overdue initiatives to not solely their roads, however to the bridges and culverts, as properly.”

In 2019, accidents involving culverts led to 2 deaths and different accidents, and repairs had been ready for seven years previous to these incidents, Alkire stated.

“It’s this sort of under-funding that results in freeway fatalities,” she stated, including that on the day she bought the information of the funding, she met with state tribal and state relations representatives to request additional funding to help the tribe with grant-matching necessities.

Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., together with Rep. Kelly Armstrong, all Republicans from North Dakota, wrote Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg in a letter dated March 23 asking for assist in order that the funds may go to enhance security for pedestrians and automobiles touring in busy areas close to colleges, workplaces and houses.

“This development undertaking offers direct advantages to 2 underserved areas and addresses disparities in rural transportation infrastructure,” the letter said.

“North Dakota’s financial system has grown considerably over the previous decade, which has positioned further pressure on our state’s infrastructure, together with the State Freeway System. Whereas the state has made super efforts to satisfy these ever-increasing wants, further federal funding is required to assist make sure the protected and environment friendly transportation of products and other people,” the letter said.

Makes an attempt to contact the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation had been unsuccessful.