In a field hearing of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in Polson, committee representative Sen. Jon Tester heard from government officials and tribal representatives from as far as California and Arizona who said more money was needed for reservation roads and the system needed to be better administered.
Some 73 percent of the 28,000 miles of roadways under the Bureau of Indian Affairs are unpaved and considered inadequate, Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk said.
While road fatalities across the nation are going down, such deaths in Indian Country are skyrocketing. The annual fatality rate on Indian roads is three times the national average, said John Baxter of the Federal Highway Administration.
