Cars and trucks are the primary means of transportation on these lands, although airplanes, public transportation vans and buses, snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, and other conveyances are important in some areas. Most of this support is provided through the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) that is jointly administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior (DOI). This report discusses the TTP and other highway programs relevant to the tribes, such as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) State Highway Safety Program. The Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act ( P.L. 114-94 ), enacted in 2015, reauthorized the TTP and NHTSA's safety programs from FY2016 through FY2020. There are also other types of Indian lands, including state-authorized Indian reservations. The FAST Act did not authorize funding for the THPP. Indian tribes also receive funding from NHTSA's State Highway Safety Program, commonly referred to as Section 402 safety grants. Policy Issues

		Funding

Because of the generally poor condition of highways on Indian lands and the problem with highway safety, there have been proposals for large increases in funding for programs that directly fund the construction and maintenance of highways on Indian lands. The FAST Act requires two studies by the Secretary of Transportation pertaining to highway safety on tribal lands: one on the quality of transportation safety data collected on tribal lands and the other on identifying and evaluating "options for improving safety on public roads on Indian reservations" (§1117 (c)(1)). FHWA and BIA have different requirements for projects that involve similar right-of-way circumstances, and a tribe needs approval from BIA on BIA-owned or trust land even if the tribe has an agreement with FHWA. In certain situations, BIA will require a more resource-intensive environmental assessment when FHWA will process the request as a less resource-intensive categorical exclusion. A legislative option would be to require BIA to apply DOT regulations when implementing NEPA. There have also been calls for the authorization of $10 million per year from the Highway Trust Fund for BIA to develop a comprehensive computerized national database of rights-of-way.
Cars and trucks are the primary means of transportation on Indian lands, mostly rural areas that cover about 56 million acres. There are about 145,000 miles of roads, owned variously by tribal, federal, state, and local governments, which provide access to and within these areas. Although comprehensive data are not available, roads on Indian lands are typically rudimentary and in poor condition.
A large share of federal funding for highways on Indian lands is provided through the Tribal Transportation Program (TTP), which is jointly administered by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Department of the Interior (DOI). The TTP was authorized at an average of $465 million per year from FY2016 through FY2020 as part of the Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act (P.L. 114-94).
Other programs that provide funding for highways and highway safety on Indian reservations include BIA's Road Maintenance Program and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) State Highway Safety Program (§402 safety grants). Indian tribes may also receive federal aid for projects from funding apportioned to a state department of transportation. Moreover, tribes have had some success competing for discretionary funding. For example, Indian tribes have received discretionary Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants from DOT.
Tribal advocates, citing the poor and unsafe condition of tribal roads, argue for a much larger tribal transportation program and more funds for highway safety programs. The FAST Act provided modest increases in funding in nominal dollars. The FAST Act also requires two safety-related reports, one on the quality of transportation safety data collected on tribal lands and the other to provide options for improving highway safety on Indian reservations.
DOT and BIA have different requirements for projects that involve similar right-of-way circumstances, and a tribe needs to have approval from BIA on BIA-owned or trust land even if the tribe has an agreement with FHWA. In certain situations, BIA will require a more resource-intensive environmental assessment when DOT will process the request as a less resource-intensive categorical exclusion. A legislative option would be to require BIA to apply DOT regulations when implementing the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Others have suggested improving the documentation of rights-of-way on Indian reservations.