Tribal Transportation: Barriers and Solutions

The importance of transportation to Native Americans is illustrated by the prominence of trails and waterways in numerous creation legends and traditions. Many roadways and river routes used today follow ancient trails first laid down by tribal ancestors even before the introduction of the horse, when people moved by foot over land and by canoe over water (Federal Highway Administration, 1999). In northern Michigan, for example, the forested roadsides between Cadillac and Traverse City are dotted with black and white concrete markers showing a route that led ancient "mound builder" Indians, and later the Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi across rivers and between campsites (Carr, 2002).

Just as today's roads in the Michigan woods follow the footsteps of a trail laid down centuries before, transportation initiatives on American Indian reservations are most successful when they are built on local, cooperative, and community-based initiatives that can make use of resources already in place. The transportation needs of American Indians today, including tribal members with disabilities, are really no different than the needs of most people who live in rural areas, but they can often be more pronounced (Shawn, 1999). Conditions found on some reservations, such as immense distances across tribal lands or cumbersome administrative demands, can prove to be an additional challenge for those planning transportation for people with disabilities and other residents.

President George W. Bush's New Freedom Initiative, unveiled in 2001, aims to help Americans with disabilities by "promoting their increased access into daily community life." Access to reliable transportation affects all the various tasks of daily community life, including social, medical, and employment activities. On reservations where reliable tribal transportation programs do not exist, tribal members often depend upon friends and neighbors to assist them with rides to medical offices, shopping, jobs, and schools. Some cannot reach their destinations at all and are unable to hold down employment or reach the medical care they need.

For people with disabilities, access to reliable transportation is often the critical factor in obtaining and maintaining employment (Project Action, 1997). If a tribal member has a disability that requires accessible (lift-equipped) transportation, his or her chances of reaching a destination become more limited. While personal transportation, including vans with specialty lifts or modified automobiles, can be a solution in rural areas, the initial start-up expense of owning and operating a vehicle may be out of the reach of many tribal members, including people with disabilities.

On most of the more than 300 American Indian reservations in the United States there is no existing infrastructure for public transit systems. In addition, many rural tribes deal with isolated dirt or gravel roads that are poorly maintained. While the main road on a reservation may be paved, others for the most part are not, including roads to homes or outlying areas of the reservation. There are few sidewalks, and where sidewalks exist, there are no curb cuts.

In addition to physical barriers, not all tribes enjoy cooperative relationships with the states in which they are located. Issues of sovereignty and jurisdiction, including land and water issues, can cloud state and tribal relations. In addition to relationships with the state, tribes must also interact with the federal government, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), county and local governments, as well as their own tribal councils. Strained relationships with any of these entities can pose a barrier as a tribe attempts to create or improve a transportation system on its reservation.

Progress

Despite these and other barriers, tribes across the United States have used creative ways to develop transportation systems. The following tribes, and others who are developing successful transportation programs, have planned their efforts in advance, coordinated with other agencies, and made use of existing resources.

In Mississippi, the Choctaw Transit Authority operates seven employment-related transit routes; serves a rehabilitation center; delivers noon meals; leases four vehicles to local senior citizen centers; and randomly offers field trips to nursing home residents. It also maintains a shuttle service, a vehicle maintenance center, and a gasoline service station. Since Mississippi has no state transportation funding assistance, state officials work closely with the tribe on obtaining federal funds that are administered through the state. (On reservations where relations with the state government are more strained than in Mississippi, cooperation might be improved through a mediation process, allowing better access to federal transportation funding that is only allocated through the state.)

On the Navajo Nation, which encompasses 26,000 square miles within Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, the Navajo Transit System operates seven fixed-routes with ten 41-passenger motorcoaches and four smaller vehicles, two of which are fully accessible. Passengers with disabilities pay 50% of the regular fare.

The Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma has 11 counties within its service area, where it operates both a demand-response and fixed-route service. It coordinates its efforts with many local agencies, including Head Start, an Indian hospital, youth programs, and a senior citizen nutrition center (Shawn, 1999).

The Blackfeet Tribal Council in Browning, Montana has established a transportation planning department, which will assess present and future transportation needs, and project the most practical ways to satisfy them. They have designated a transportation planner to coordinate these efforts and serve as a contact person with state and federal highway departments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and other agencies.

Importance of Planning

Effective long-range transportation planning takes into consideration a reservation's economic and social needs, such as housing, employment, education, health care, natural resources, environmentally-sensitive areas, sovereignty, land use, parks, recreation, pedestrian access, tourism, culture, and history (Federal Highway Administration, 1999). A comprehensive planning process that complements the social and economic development of a reservation would include an assessment of the transportation needs of tribal members with disabilities.

Coordination of Existing Resources

Coordination of existing transportation services, however limited, is especially important in isolated rural or reservation areas. It increases residents' ability to reach health care, employment, and necessary services, by improving a transportation system's effectiveness and efficiency (Shawn, 1999). Coordinated transportation links together the efforts of schools, as well as health, employment, and social service agencies. Note that coordinating transportation services is not always easy. "Turf" issues can keep people and agencies from joining forces. In addition, many program personnel believe that their equipment or funding can only be used for their clients. This is rarely true (Community Transportation Association, 1995).

Potential coordination partners for tribal transportation programs:

Head Start programs
Day care centers
Tribal industries
Nursing homes
Medical centers
Local colleges, schools, or universities
Alcohol and substance abuse treatment centers
Nutrition centers and meal delivery services (Shawn, 1999)

Funding Utilization

Some readily available resources for improving transportation on reservations are not being utilized. The methods used by the Department of Transportation to disseminate information to tribes, as well as lack of timely information, may be two of the issues behind lack of utilization of funding resources. On some reservations, tribal program personnel and agency staff may not know how to apply funding in ways that will work for their particular community; they may have limited knowledge of how to put together funding proposals or create accessible transportation systems.

When funding for transportation does become available, tribes sometimes purchase new vans or other vehicles that lack the lift equipment necessary to make them accessible for riders with disabilities. Such purchases are probably due to a lack of awareness and education regarding the needs of elders and tribal members with disabilities. Additionally, transporting children with disabilities has presented a problem to some tribes. While all tribes are required to provide transportation to programs such as Head Start or tribally operated schools, they have reported scrambling to find sufficient resources to purchase the necessary lift-equipped vehicles.

Tribes may investigate the following organizations, among others, for assistance in funding accessible transportation programs:

Federal Transit Administration
Administration on Aging
Administration for Native Americans (ANA).
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (Department of Health and Human Services)

Suggestions

The following actions may not be appropriate for all tribal governments, but may help many to reduce the barriers to effective and efficient transportation on reservations:

Designate a tribal official to be responsible for transportation planning coordination.
Consider making transportation planning a permanent part of tribal administration.
Retain transportation planners who have an awareness of the scope and role of planning and who know the needs of the tribal government and tribal members in question.
Encourage tribal planners and officials to attend training courses on transportation issues and intergovernmental affairs. (Federal Highway Administration, 1999)
Tribes whose transportation initiatives are well-established can collect information on the most effective practices and share this information with other tribes and rural areas.
Advocate for a federal mandate requiring all states that receive federal transportation funding to work with tribes. Rationale for such a requirement would be that federal transportation funds are allocated to states based on population, including American Indian population.
Insist that tribes and tribal organizations make coordination and cooperation mandatory when creating fleet options or public transit systems in their communities. A example of such coordination would be a non-profit tribal organization that repairs and maintains automobiles, and also runs a taxi service from rural homes to health clinics or stores.
Work to increase the allocation of dollars through formula funding or special initiatives to rural areas, including tribes and reservations.

Civic Involvement

In 1997, the World Health Organization defined community participation to be an important quality of life issue for people with disabilities. Participation means being actively engaged in community life and achieving a sense of belonging. From the beginning, the transportation planning process offers a variety of opportunities for tribal members, including people with disabilities, to be involved and make the transportation needs of people with disabilities known. Interested residents may attend initial public meetings, planning process meetings, or special hearings. Tribes may advertise such meetings in a variety of ways, including newsletters, news releases to local newspapers, and public service announcements to local radio and television stations. (Federal Highway Administration, 1999).

The barriers to efficient transportation on Indian reservations are many, but the search for solutions can involve everyone from student leaders on college campuses to tribal elders and councils. Access to reliable transportation influences all areas of daily life for tribal members, and better access for everyone can improve the social and economic life of the entire reservation.

References and Resources

The Access Board. 331 F St., N.W., Ste. 1000, Washington,
D.C. 20004-1111. 202-272-5434. 800-872-2253. 202-272-5449 (TTY). 800-993-2822 (TTY). 202-272-5447 (FAX).
Technical assistance and training on accessibility guidelines and standards.

Carr, T. (2002, May 26). Preserving the trail of our heritage. Traverse City Record Eagle, pp. B1, B3.

Community Transportation Association. (July 1995). Transportation in Indian Country: Getting Started. (Technical Assistance Brief No. 1). Washington, D.C. Contains four worksheets to assist tribal governments in identifying resources and planning cooperative transportation programs. (The CTAA web site also offers other resources for tribes.)

Federal Highway Administration. (October 1999). Indian Reservation Roads Program: Transportation Planning Procedures and Guidelines. U.S. Department of Transportation. Washington, D.C.

National Transit Resource Center. Community Transportation Association of America. (July 1999). American Indian Transportation: Issues and Successful Models. (Technical Assistance Brief No. 14). Washington, D.C.: Kelly Shawn.

Project ACTION (Accessible Community Transportation in Our Nation) 700 Thirteenth St., N.W., Ste. 200, Washington, D.C. 20005. 202-347-3066. 800-659-6428. 202-347-7385 (TDD). 202-737-7914 (FAX). Promotes cooperation between the disability community and transportation industry.

This fact sheet was prepared by Joyce Brusin with assistance from Kathy Dwyer. It is available in Braille, large print and text formats.

The work of the American Indian Disability Technical Assistance Center was funded by a grant (#H235K000002) from the U.S. Department of Education's Rehabilitation Services Administration.

AIDTAC was a project of:

The University of Montana Rural Institute
52 Corbin Hall
Missoula, MT 59812-7056
406-243-4856
AIDTAC website