Under an on-call contract with the Navajo Nation Division of Transportation (NDOT), Wilson & Company’s planning experts assisted the Navajo Nation in completing an update to the Long-Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). This is an update to the 2009 LRTP, also completed by Wilson & Company, with a focus on helping to implement the decentralization efforts for local community planning as NDOT moves from five central service centers to 16 service centers. The LRTP meets federal regulations, prioritizes funding of transportation projects, and outlines multimodal strategies. The LRTP provides a realistic look at the existing conditions of all transportation assets, including bridges, roads, pavements, sidewalks, and more, to address immediate and future needs.

The LRTP is a multi-year planning process to research, draft, and develop a path forward for multimodal transportation investment within the Navajo Nation. The multimodal investment includes investing in infrastructure and strategies to improve mobility for those who drive, bicycle, walk, fly, use transit, and ship freight. Encompassing over 27,000 square miles, Navajo Nation is the largest tribal community in the United States. The nation’s territory occupies portions of three states, including southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, and northwestern New Mexico. This geographic size is larger than 10 U.S. states and includes five regional governments and 11 counties.

Wilson & Company was responsible for the LRTP to address the Nation’s multimodal transportation needs for the future and develop an implementation plan for recommended improvements. The plan provides long-range planning policies and implementation guidelines for Navajo Indian Reservation Roads (IRR) Program improvements. It is based on a comprehensive analysis of all pertinent factors and issues affecting the Navajo Nation’s existing and future transportation needs associated with all travel modes, including roadway, transit, airports, freight, pedestrians, and bicycles. Recommendations of the LRTP will provide guidance to the Navajo Nation, NDOT, the State Departments of Transportation, Chapter communities within the Reservation, and private interests when considering future development plans.