Summary
There are a large number of roads, particularly in the western half of the United States, that are located on American Indian Reservations. There are about 310 such reservations as reviewed by the United States Department of the Interior's (DOI) Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
The Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) Program addresses transportation needs of tribes by providing funds for planning, designing, construction, and maintenance activities for all public roads. The program is jointly administered by the Federal Highway Administration’s Federals Lands Highway Office and the BIA, Division of Transportation, in accordance with an interagency agreement. The authorizing legislation is the highway authorization act (currently the Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)) and codified in Title 23 U.S.C. and 25 C.F.R. Part 170.
The Indian Reservation Roads are public roads which provide access to and within Indian reservations, Indian trust land, restricted Indian land, and Alaska native villages. Approximately 29,000 miles are under the jurisdiction of BIA and tribes and another 73,000 miles are under State and local ownership. The IRR program funds can be used for any type Title 23 transportation project providing access to or within Federal or Indian lands and may be used for the State/local matching share for apportioned Federal-aid Highway Funds