Rural roads - take a trip throughout Arizona and you are sure to find them.
According to the most recent data from the University of Arizona, which showed of the nearly 7.3 million people who live in our state, more than 347,000 call rural communities home.
So what's being done to protect roads in these communities?
ABC15 took these concerns to Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.
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"This is really important to us because transportation is one of the things that affect whether you can succeed and that is certainly true in rural areas," said Sec. Buttigieg. "In many programs, there is a legal benchmark and we have gone above and beyond that. And we see the impact those dollars have. As a matter of fact, for the first time under President Biden, we have a dedicated funding stream just for rural projects."
According to the data from the Governors Highway Safety Association, nearly half of all deadly crashes happen on rural roads, even though 19% of our country's population lives in these areas.
That also includes many tribal lands.
Arizona currently has 22 federally recognized tribes. The Navajo Nation, for example, has more than 14,000 miles of roads, but roughly 9,000 miles remain unpaved. It is important to note that the Navajo Nation is in charge of roughly half of those roads and the federal government is in charge of maintaining the other half, according to Navajo Nation.
The Executive Director of the Navajo Nation Division of Transportation Garret Silversmith says buses carrying kids to and from school use almost all those unpaved roads.
"The school system uses those as their primary routes to and from schools and many of our community residents use these routes for their daily business," said Silversmith.
"We've been in touch with a number of leaders from Hopi, Navajo, Gila and other communities," said Sec. Buttigieg. "Tribal communities are a real priority for us because frankly, they are doing a lot with a little. The funding they have had to work with and the roads they have to maintain are really out of whack. And we see tribal citizens facing higher rates of being vulnerable to crashes and pedestrian deaths and worse conditions on tribal roads and that requires action. It's why infrastructure law makes sure it reinvigorates things like the tribal transportation program and we are working towards agreements that work towards self-governance that takes out some of the red tape for tribes working with federal dollars."
Silversmith says they'll take any amount of money they can get, but is hoping for more for the Navajo Nation in the future, describing rehabilitating roads as a top priority for tribal leaders.
"We have plans, strategic plans, for ways to spend those funds on ways to improve transportation infrastructure on the Navajo Nation," said Silversmith. "We can gravel, stabilize, chip seal some of these unpaved dirt roads."