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The FHWA has a government-to-government relationship with Indian Tribal Governments [1]. This special relationship is affirmed in treaties, Supreme Court decisions, and executive orders. These require that the FHWA and other Federal agencies consult with Tribes regarding policy and regulatory matters.
23 USC 135 requires States to:
- Consider the needs of Indian tribal governments when carrying out planning
- Consult with tribal governments in long range planning
- Consult with Indian tribal governments in development of the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.
Related Topics
Training and Education
Technical Resources
Peer Programs
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 Related Topics
Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance
Detailed information on the federal laws, regulations, and guidance pertaining to transportation planning may be found at the FHWA Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty site for Legislation, Regulations, and Guidance and at the FTA Office of Planning site for Planning Statutes and Regulations.
Local Officials Consultation
Non-Metropolitan Local Officials Consultation- TEA-21 legislation provides for States to consult with and consider the concerns of non-metropolitan officials, when making transportation decisions in their Statewide Transportation Planning and Programming duties. The final rule on local official consultation was published in the Federal Register on January 23, 2003 with a correction to the final rule published on February 14, 2003. The Final Rule clarifies the role of non-metropolitan local officials in the statewide transportation planning process. The final rule requires States to document their consultation process with non-metropolitan local officials that provides for their participation in statewide transportation planning and programming and that is separate and discrete from the public involvement process. The States are required to review and solicit comments regarding this process in order to ensure that the process is continually effective. All required States have documented and implemented their processes.
St Louis Non-Metropolitan Local Official Consultation Workshop - AASHTO, with support from the FHWA, sponsored a workshop to discuss experiences and suggestions on implementing a Final Rule on Non-Metropolitan Local Consultation. Specifically, the workshop provided a forum for representatives from states, the National Association of Development Organizations (NADO), the National Association of Counties (NACO) and other key stakeholders to foster mutual learning by sharing their experiences in implementing consultation processes with non-metropolitan local officials and to offer suggestions of how to enhance effective collaboration. This report provides a preliminary overview of the workshop proceedings.
Tribal-specific Legislation
Native American Consultation
Federal Programs
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) performs its mission through three principal programs:
- The Federal Aid Highway Program (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programs.html) is a federally assisted State program. The State Highway Agency (SHA) is the recipient of Federal funds and is also responsible for administering the program. The role of the FHWA is to administer the Federal-aid program in partnership with the SHA. The FHWA provides Federal financial assistance to the States to construct and improve the National Highway System (NHS), urban and rural roads, and bridges. Each of the fifty-two operating division offices (one in each State, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) is located in the same city as the SHA. These division offices provide front line Federal-aid program delivery assistance to partners and customers in highway transportation and safety services - including but not limited to - planning and research, preliminary engineering, technology transfer, right-of-way, bridge, highway safety, traffic operations, environment, civil rights, design construction and maintenance, engineering coordination, highway beautification, and administration.
- The Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP) (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/flh/index.htm) is administered by FHWA. Responsibilities of the FLHP include survey, design and construction of forest highway system roads, parkways and park roads, Indian reservation roads, defense access roads, and other Federal lands roads. The FLHP office provides funding for more than 90,000 miles of federally owned and public authority-owned roads. The FLHP office also provides program coordination, administration and design, and construction engineering assistance and directs the conduct of transportation planning and engineering studies.
- The Indian Reservation Roads Program (IRR) (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/flh/indresrd.htm) is one of the funding categories under the FLHP. The IRRs are defined as any public road on an Indian reservation, Indian trust land, restricted Indian land, or Alaska Native Villages. In States where tribes do not have reservations, public roads that serve Indian communities, and/or are primarily used by tribal members, may be designated as IRRs. The FLHP IRR program is jointly administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FHWA through an interagency agreement.
Briefing Notebook
 The Transportation Planning Process: Key Issues
A Briefing Notebook for Transportation Decisionmakers, Officials, and Staff (PDF)
The Briefing Notebook is a primer for transportation decisionmakers and stakeholders. It provides government officials, planning board members, transportation service providers, and the public at large with an overview of transportation planning in metropolitan settings. Along with a basic understanding of the key concepts, the notebook provides references for additional information. Part I discusses transportation planning and its relationship to decisionmaking. Part II presents short discussions of the following policy and planning topics:
- Air Quality
- Asset Management
- Financial Planning and Programming
- Freight Movement
- Land Use and Transportation
- Models and Their Use
- Performance Measures
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- Project Development and the NEPA Process
- Public Involvement
- Safety
- System Management and Operations
- Title V1/Environmental Justice
- Transportation Demand Management
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Training and Education
Formal training courses provide a rigorous background in the substance and methods of the planning process. The TPCB Program includes formal training in a broad range of transportation planning subjects. These sessions are geared to the needs of decisionmakers, transportation officials, professional staff, and FHWA and FTA field staff. New courses are being developed based on feedback from transportation professionals.
Transportation planning training courses are offered by the National Highway Institute (NHI) , the National Transit Institute (NTI), The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the Travel Model Improvement Program (TMIP) , and other organizations offering NHI, NTI, and FHWA recognized courses.
A number of planning courses are available from the FHWA, FTA, and other resources that relate directly and indirectly to Metropolitan planning issues. For more information go to the TPBC Training and Education page.
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Technical Resources
Publications
Case Studies
Tribal Consultation and Cultural Resources Assessment - Environmental Justice Case Studies: Tribes are sovereign governments, analogous to State governments in certain (but not all) ways. Interactions among tribes, the FHWA, and State DOTs should be structured as a government-to-government relationship. Consultation with tribes is therefore different from traditional public involvement outreach. Reaching out to tribes is still crucial if Federal and State agencies want to be sure that environmental justice concerns are understood and addressed. Transportation officials need to adapt their outreach efforts to this special relationship.
Links
These links are provided merely to assist you in the tribal consultation process. For more information on transportation planning and contacts, please see:
Links to tribal and native American issues sites.
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Peer Programs
The Transportation Planning Capacity Building Peer Program is one of the most important pieces of the overall Transportation Planning Capacity Building vision. By providing opportunities for sharing solution-based experiences throughout the professional planning community, the Peer Exchange Program seeks to recognize, support, and promote good metropolitan, statewide, rural, and tribal transportation planning practices nationwide. Sharing ideas, noteworthy and solution-based experiences between Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), regional planning organizations, transit operators, state departments of transportation (SDOTs), and tribal governments not only strengthens transportation planning practices, but also builds relationships and reinforces cooperation between these agencies. The people who depend on the transportation system ultimately benefit from this peer exchange in the form of a more efficient multi-modal system that provides mobility and access for passengers and freight.
For more information go to the Peer Programs page.
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[1]The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e)) defines the term ''Indian tribe'' as any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) (43 U.S.C. 1601 et. seq.), which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians.
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