Cherokee Nation Signs Infrastructure Compact With Federal Government

A new compact signed between the federal government and the Cherokee Nation gives tribal planners far more control over how they build and fund transportation infrastructure.

The Tribal Transportation Self-Governance Program compact and funding agreement allows the tribe to plan its own road construction transit projects.

The compact between the Department of Transportation and Cherokee Nation makes it significantly easier for the tribe to use federal funding to build infrastructure and transportation that connects communities.

In the Deputy Secretary of Transportation's own words, this compact has been a long time coming.

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. said today's signing isn't just big for the Cherokees.

“It is significant for all of Indian country," he said. “The more we are empowered, to again execute on this important mission, the better off people are overall, the better off our reservation is, the better off our communities across our reservation are ... Connecting so many of the men and women, children who live across their community to things like healthcare, to jobs, to school ... That means so much about our lifeways survives, that means things like our language survives, that means our culture can thrive.”

Deputy Secretary of Transportation Polly Trottenberg said while the compact is the first of its kind, it also creates a blueprint for other tribes and won't be the last.

“Thanks to the Cherokee Nation’s leadership every tribe in the country now has a model that in can pursue in its own self-governance agreements," she said.