01.20.12

Delegation Announces Nearly $10 Million in Emergency Relief for Spirit Lake Reservation, Theodore Roosevelt Park Roads

WASHINGTON - Senators John Hoeven and Kent Conrad and Congressman Rick Berg today announced the awarding of nearly $10 million in federal highway funding to repair roadways on the Spirit Lake Reservation and in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. 

“Last year’s flooding posed tremendous challenges to North Dakota’s infrastructure and damaged roadways that our residents rely on for daily travel and recreation. These funds make it possible to repair and maintain these roads and increase travel safety and the quality of life for all who depend on them,” the delegation said in a joint statement. 

The Department of Transportation awarded $6,850,000 in Emergency Relief for Federally Owned Roads (ERFO) funding to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for road improvement on Spirit Lake Reservation. It also awarded $3,075,000 in ERFO funding to the National Park Service for road improvement in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  

The ERFO Program helps to pay for the unusually heavy expenses for the repair and reconstruction of federal roads damaged by a natural disaster or catastrophic failures from an external cause. Federal roads provide access to and within federal and Indian lands. 

These awards are in addition to more than $316 million North Dakota will receive in federal Emergency Relief (ER) Program funding, a record for the state, and nearly 25 percent of all federal emergency relief funding to be distributed nationwide. The Emergency Relief Program funds repairs for federal-aid highways such as the Interstate system.

The delegation and the state are working with the U.S. Department of Transportation to cover as much of the cost of necessary flood repair work as possible under regular federal highway funding, emergency relief funding and state match, for both this year and next.

This funding was awarded by the Department of Transportation through funds appropriated by Congress.