Tribal Capacity and the Transportation Working Group

摘要

There are a lot of nonprofit and grass-roots organizations across the country that have been advocating public involvement in transportation processes. Some of these groups were deeply involved in designing the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century so that public involvement would be emphasized. But I do not think this public involvement is always as inclusive of tribes as it needs to be. Insufficient outreach requires tribes to find information on their own and to use their limited resources to get to meetings. To facilitate coordination, transportation agencies might consider utilizing tribal organizations, even though they are not regularly mentioned in transportation regulations and policies. We can provide a forum for state agencies. We can provide a forum for internal departments to get together to discuss mutual issues. I think that the role of tribal organizations is overlooked, yet this structure can disseminate information and can enhance coordination and collaboration. When addressing tribal transportation, we are trying to provide access for transit people to the Transportation Working Group, as well as to the IRR program. This IRR title suggests an emphasis on roads rather than on the tribal human-service workers who are invited to participate. They wonder how their work fits in with roads. I think that part of the title should be changed to incorporate other activities besides road construction and road planning. The transit people need to be given an opportunity to become involved. Be sure to share information with these organizations so that they feel included and can begin to understand this complicated transportation system. Basically, we want to get the word out that there are other ways in which we can begin to collaborate. We are certainly availing ourselves of any of the collaborative efforts that are being done regionally, nationally, and locally.