Indian Reservations Blocking State and Federal Highways
Well that’s an eyebrow raiser. They’re using Covid as the reason. Important is many such highways traverse Indian Reservations (due to historic or topographical/routing necessity). Imagine if the Navajo Reservation blocked SR160, 89, 191 & 491, etc. in northeast Arizona. It would cause chaos if over 300 miles of public R/W heavily utilized by the trucking industry became unavailable, not to mention motorists. Tricker would be short traverses of Interstate over Reservations; do the Reservations have the right to block them?
I’ve been involved in many acquisition/construction highway projects on Indian Reservations at the State & Federal level over the years and the FED/State entity exercises powerful control concerning R/W activities on their facilities written into the record. The Reservations cannot unilaterally block State/Interstate right of passage, although they can petition for closures to the Highway authority controlling the road.
That being said, I understand their position. Concerning local Reservation roads it’s long recognized they are the controlling agency. I’m a Jeeper and have been turned back by signs that say “no non-Indian persons allowed without a permit or licensed guide on board.”
Anyway, here’s a poorly reported article about the situation:
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