FROM THE ARCHIVE
Bill aims to improve Navajo road safety
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FRIDAY, MARCH 7, 2003 The following is a press release from Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.). WASHINGTON, D.C., March 6 - With Congress expected to rewrite a major bill that funds all federal highway spending, U.S. Senator Jeff Senator Bingaman today unveiled a measure to renew a program that aims to improve the safety of roads on the Navajo Nation that are used as school bus routes. The condition of roads on the Navajo Nation has long been a problem - with many of them remaining unpaved. According to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), of the 9,800 miles of public roads that serve the Navajo Nation, only about one-fifth are paved. The remaining 7,600 miles are dirt roads. Nearly all of these roads are used to transport Navajo children to and from school. Recognizing this problem, Congress at Bingaman's urging created a pot of funding to help improve roads that carry children to schools on the reservation. Prior to creation of that program, roads in some areas were so bad during inclement weather that children couldn't get to school. Bingaman's program has helped improve the situation, but many roads still remain in poor condition. "Navajo children who had been prevented from getting to school by frequently impassable roads are now traveling safely to and from their schools. But there are many more roads that could use improvements," Bingaman said. "The states and counties that include the Navajo Nation within their boundaries can't raise the revenue needed to make these improvement given that the reservation is federal land that can't be taxed. It's clear that getting this work done is a federal responsibility, and we must continue to live up to it." Bingaman's "Indian School Bus Route Safety Reauthorization Act of 2003" (S. 528) would reauthorize the Indian School Bus Route program and boost funding to $24 million over six years - up from the $9 million originally provided through the program over the last six years. That funding would continue to be split equally among the three states covered by portions of the Navajo Nation. In New Mexico, those funds go to McKinley and San Juan counties. A companion measure has also been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Tom Udall (D-N.M.). "The reauthorization of these funds will continue to provide much-needed assistance to McKinley and San Juan counties, and will prevent the shameful situation of Navajo children missing school simply because of impassable roads," Udall said. Congressman Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) joined Udall in introducing the measure on the House side. "For Utah Navajos, this means children can travel rural county roads more easily and safely get to school. For rural counties, it offers a boost at a time when local budgets are stretched thin - in other words, a 'win-win' situation," said Matheson. Over the last six years, the program has provided direct annual funding to the counties in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah that contain the Navajo reservation. The counties are required to use the funding for improvement and maintenance of roads located within or that lead to the reservation, that are on a state or county maintenance system, and that serve as school bus routes. "Kids today, particularly in rural and remote areas, already face enough barriers to getting a good education. Actually getting to school shouldn't be one of them," Bingaman said. Bingaman said he would work to include the measure in legislation that will reauthorize programs created through TEA-21, a major bill that provides for all federal spending on highways. Congress must reauthorize TEA-21 this year. Bingaman's bill has been endorsed by the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments and the Tri-State County Association of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Relevant Links:
Sen. Jeff Bingaman - http://bingaman.senate.gov
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