Tribal Transportation

U.S. Highway 93 Project

Sponsored by the Federal Highway Administration - Iowa Division and the Iowa Department of Transportation

Prepared by the Center for Transportation Research & Education, Iowa State University February 2002

Background:

Over a decade ago, the Montana Highway Department proposed to widen 56 miles of a principal two-lane arterial highway-U.S. Highway 93-through the Flathead Indian Reservation. What followed was a clash between cultures and a ten-year process that lead to an unprecedented Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, the Federal Highway Administration and the Montana Department of Transportation. Since the signing of the MOA in 2000, the process has continued with the three governments as equal partners in negotiating the design that will be used to construct a safe and efficient highway that respects the "Spirit of Place," (the cultural and physical landscape) of the Flathead Nation.

Proposed Expansion of U.S. Highway 93

In 1990, the Montana Highway Department completed several environmental assessments (EAs) to address environmental issues for each geographical segment of the proposed U.S. Highway 93 expansion project. Tribal planners voiced concern that this segmented approach did not fully address the cumulative impacts to cultural resources, wetlands, prime farmlands, wildlife, noise, pollution, aesthetics, land use and uncontrolled growth that could result from development of a four-lane highway on the Reservation.

The Highway Department agreed to initiate a more thorough review of environmental impacts through an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the entire project. The Highway Department asked the Tribes to be a cooperating agency. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) agreed to take the lead, with all governments working together to form an interdisciplinary team of social and natural resource specialists.

Tribal staff stressed the need for extensive public participation in the process and met first with Tribal Elders to seek their guidance. The Elders expressed a desire for reduced speed limits, provision of bus pull-outs for children, protection of culturally-important resources, and the need for people to slow down in this fast-paced world.

Tribal Elder Harriet Whitworth said, Any time you build" on this scale, "you're just inviting trouble. We're losing so much . the fish, the wildlife.. [And the Reservation is] spiritual country.

The Flathead Culture Committee stated:

For our culture to survive, our people must live in a place that continues to hold a powerful sense of tribal identity, of community, of familiarity. The open spaces need to be kept open, the pristine places that nurture our bodies and souls need to be kept pristine, and the preponderance of tribal people . needs to be protected. These things are vital if we are to continue into the future as Salish people.

With these concerns in mind, a local citizens' group, the Flathead Resource Organization (FRO), proposed an improved two-lane highway alternative. The President of FRO, Salish Kootenai College President Joe McDonald, persuaded the Tribal Council to support the alternative, but transportation officials argued that an improved two-lane highway would not meet the Level of Service or efficiency requirements for a principal highway arterial with the volume of traffic that was projected for U.S. Highway 93. As it turned out, the expansion project could not proceed without Tribal approval because the Tribes owned land needed for right-of-way, and Tribal land could not be condemned by the state for highway expansion.

Meanwhile, the Congress passed the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) which resulted in a new perspective and a new way of doing business for transportation industry. The Highway Department changed its name to the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) to reflect its intermodal planning capabilities, and funding was made available for tribes to create their own transportation planning programs. The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes were one of the first to receive this funding.

Janet Camel, Tribal Resource Planning Coordinator, supervised the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes' first transportation planning program and emphasized the need to study highway safety, capacity and growth issues in greater detail. Tribal Elders did not want a four-lane highway that could have negative impacts on their sense of place on their own Reservation, yet growth was changing the landscape. Sitting between two of the fastest growing regions in the state, news of the proposed four-lane highway was accelerating growth on the Reservation, and sensitive natural and cultural resources were in jeopardy. Another alternative was needed.

Tribal planning and Geographical Information System (GIS) staff developed computerized maps of accident locations, traffic volumes and access points. They found a direct correlation between high accident rates and the 1-2 foot shoulders along several stretches of the highway. They found that the number of accesses onto Highway 93 was well over the limit considered safe for a two-lane or a four-lane highway. MDT statistics indicated that one-third of the accidents on the highway were related to access. Tribal officials urged the state and FHWA to address access management.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement for the Highway 93 project was completed in 1996.[1] While a stalemate existed on the issue of lane configuration, MDT, FHWA and the Tribes agreed to proceed with an access management plan for the highway. Camel worked on a Montana task force to development access standards for Montana highways, then worked with Tribal attorney Joe Hovenkotter and Transportation Planner Lewis YellowRobe to develop an access classification plan for Highway 93 that addresses changes in land use and their related impacts on highway safety. MDT hired Skillings-Connelly, an engineering firm, to coordinate development of an access control plan to reduce the number of accesses onto the highway.

"Getting an access control plan was a nightmare," according to YellowRobe. "We had a lot of disagreement on what it [should look] like, but we came to what we could live with." While the access management effort proceeded, negotiations stalled on the lane configuration issue. Some local residents complained to their Congressmen and started a billboard campaign that said "Call this 800 number if you want a four-lane highway."

Finally, the late Tribal Chairman, Mickey Pablo, was willing to approach the State and federal transportation officials. He said "if we could do access," YellowRobe recalled, "then let's talk about lane configuration." Two weeks before his death, Chairman Pablo met with the federal, Tribal and State negotiation team in a cramped room at the Tribes' KwaTaqNuk resort, and negotiations resumed.

Meetings were concensus-based and open to the public. A milestone, according to YellowRobe, was agreement on the traffic growth rate that affected the projected level of service for the highway. MDT was promoting a 3.4% growth rate, while the Tribes maintained that it was 2.8%. MDT also wanted to maintain a Level of Service B, but the Tribes thought this would compromise their resource protection concerns. The three governments finally agreed on the 2.8% growth rate and a Level of Service C. This opened the door for agreement on what YellowRobe termed "The Big Three"-level of service, environmental and cultural concerns, and safety. All three factors would go hand-in-hand, with one no more important than another. One could occasionally take precedence when considering lane configuration, but not at significant expense to another.

Tribal attorney Joe Hovenkotter and Historic Preservation Office Director Marcia Pablo then found a landscape architecture consulting firm that had worked out a stalemate for improving a rural highway in Kentucky where cultural values also played a key role. MDT agreed to hire the Jones and Jones firm, and the process "moved along light years," said YellowRobe. The landscape architects heard the Tribes' concerns for protecting the "Spirit of Place" and recommended that MDT contract with Midwest Research Institute, a firm that could project level of service based on varying lane configurations, topography, shoulder widths, and other variables that could work with the landscape and avoid sensitive resources.

"Skillings-Connelly and Jones and Jones really helped smooth things out," said YellowRobe. "And the cities and counties on the Reservation became more willing to talk and put their differences aside." Within a year, the consultants had worked with Tribal wildlife and cultural staff, the public, and State and federal engineers to draft the award-winning MOA. More than 40 wildlife crossings were planned, including an overpass for wildlife that will be landscaped and fenced to provide a linkage zone between wilderness areas to the east and the Cabinet Mountains to the west. The MOA also approved design concepts that respect the small communities along the highway, and the place the Tribes call their homeland.

"The landscape architects created outstanding visual displays that captured the Tribes' concerns and brought them to the public eye," recalled Camel. "And the traffic analysis component proved that we can provide a safe highway-the issue foremost on everyone's mind-without compromising resource values throughout the corridor."

Nearly two years have passed since the agreement was signed. Eight engineering firms are concurrently working on different segments of the highway-some with improved two-lane designs, some segments with a third lane for passing in one direction, and some four-lane sections where projected traffic volumes require additional lane capacity to meet the Level of Service C requirement. MDT's District Administrator Loran Frazier was surprised by Midwest Research Institute's findings that "four lanes weren't needed through the whole thing." He said the key lesson he has learned in this process is that "if you're willing to listen to the other side, it is possible to find solutions together." He credits Tribal Council members and cultural leader Tony Incashola as great people to work with; "and Janice Brown and Dale Paulson [FHWA] were quite helpful. One of the best outcomes of the process, Frazier added, was creation of a Technical Design Committee. This committee is comprised of Tribal, federal and State technical staff and consultants who meet twice a month to work on design issues raised by the engineering firms. The committee reviews alternatives and facilitates meetings with the public where necessary to resolve problems, keeping the design process on schedule.[2] A Political Oversight Group of Tribal and City Council members, county commissioners, representatives of public interest groups, and State and federal decision-makers also meets quarterly with the public to discuss major issues.

"Each process is unique," says YellowRobe. The key is the "ability to communicate with one another and find common issues to guide you through." His advice for other tribes facing major development proposals on their reservations is to "go into the process knowing what you want as a tribe and what you're willing to give up. Keep internal discussions flowing-before, during, and after" your meetings with other agencies.

"No one lost in this process," he adds. "MDT was able to see what makes these Tribes tick. And hopefully, we've all learned that cultural values and the wisdom of our Elders must guide us in our quest for a safer and healthier future."

For further informaion:

Lewis Yellowrobe, Transportation Planner
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Natural Resources Department, Roads Program
P.O. Box 278, Pablo, MT 59855
Telephone: (406) 675-2700, ext. 6207
FAX: (406) 676-2605
Email: csktroad@ronan.net

Janet Camel, Resource Planning Coordinator
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Tribal Lands Department, Planning Program
P.O. Box 278, Pablo, MT 59855
Telephone: (406) 675-2700, ext. 1256
FAX: (406) 675-2804
Email: janetc@cskt.org

[1] The Tribes also completed a state-of-the-art, inter-governmental Land Use and Growth Projection Study for the highway (Camel, ed., 1996) with assistance from state and county planners. This study polled Reservation residents about their concerns for safety and resource protection, projected growth trends, and mapped the sensitive natural resource areas of the Highway 93 corridor.

[2] Designs should be completed by the end of 2003, with much of the construction to be completed by 2006.