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USDOT Awards Funding to NDSU for Tribal Transportation OutreachPosted: Oct 26, 2022 North Dakota State University will head a consortium that includes South Dakota State University, Montana State University, and the University of Wyoming in providing transportation outreach and technical assistance to tribes across the Upper Great Plains and Intermountain West. As part of its Tribal Technical Assistance Program, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded a grant with a potential value of $2,250,000 during the next five years to the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute at NDSU to create the Northern Tribal Technical Assistance Program. The program will work with American Indian tribal governments to build tribal capacity in program management, grow the tribal workforce, cultivate and coordinate partnerships, facilitate technology transfer and the implementation of innovations, and share results of similar initiatives across the country. The work will be conducted in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The initial grant is for just over $600,000 for two years with the potential for extensions and expansion over the next five years. "Our focus will be to engage with the tribes to learn their needs and address those needs," UGPTI Director Denver Tolliver said. "The vision for this program nationally is to build capacity for tribes to administer and manage their own transportation programs and systems. That approach describes what we're already doing in our existing outreach." Tolliver noted that, "Partners in each of these states in the region puts us closer to each of the tribes and makes this effort much more cost effective." The Northern Tribal Technical Assistance Center will serve the BIA's Rocky Mountain and Great Plains Regions, which includes Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The funds will be shared by the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University, South Dakota State University, and the University of Wyoming. Each of those universities, along with NDSU/UGPTI, already have an FHWA-funded Local Technical Assistance Program that provides transportation outreach to local units of government. That background and experience in transportation outreach will be invaluable to the tribal effort, Tolliver says. Ron Hall, UGPTI's Tribal Transportation Program Manager, notes that the tribes have organized themselves regionally. "We plan to work with existing tribal networks that will allow us to cluster priorities and identify where the needs are and focus resources accordingly," he said. Hall notes there is considerable expertise within the collaborating universities focused on rural roads, rural road safety, and other transportation issues faced by tribes. "Lining up expertise with priorities will be pretty straightforward. The key will be making connections and building relationships." Hall, who joined UGPTI earlier this year, has an extensive background and expertise in tribal relations related to transportation infrastructure, cultural resource management, and workforce development and is recognized as a national expert in Native American transportation law and policy. Hall was previously director of the Tribal Technical Assistance Program at Colorado State University and recently joined UGPTI to direct its tribal outreach programs. "Going into tribal lands and helping tribes with their roads and their equipment is essential to success. Face-to-face is key," noted Dale Heglund, director of UGPTI's North Dakota Technical Assistance Program. The Local Technical Assistance Programs will work closely with Hall in the new center. Tolliver noted that the Northern Tribal Technical Assistance Program will also work closely with state departments of transportation in the region to tap expertise within those departments and to help them better integrate tribal transportation networks into their own statewide and regional networks. "The potential impact on transportation in the region and the potential synergies are going to be phenomenal," he said. Tribes served will include: In Montana
In Nebraska
In North Dakota
In South Dakota
In Wyoming
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