Nygren pushes federal officials to clear delays for Apache County transportation projects

Right-of-way delays are still holding up Apache County transportation work even as President Buu Nygren pushes to lock in about $130 million in contracts by July and about $200 million by the end of 2026. At an April 9 meeting in Chandler, Arizona, Nygren, Mr. Platero, Shelby Dayzie and LeRoy Gishi met with Navajo Division of Transportation and U.S. Department of Transportation leaders to press for movement on projects that have been slowed by land-access approvals.

The pressure is especially visible in Apache County, where the Navajo Region Tribal Transportation Improvement Program lists projects at Sweetwater, the N12 bridge reconstruction near Wheatfields, Cornfields-Burnside reconstruction and Hardrock-Pinon new construction. The federal project list shows that design, archaeology, environmental review and right-of-way work remain the key preconstruction steps. In at least one Apache County project, right-of-way was already complete. In another, applications still had to go to both the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation before work could advance.

That distinction matters because the money cannot move from planning into dirt-moving construction until those approvals are done. Nygren’s administration is trying to turn stalled paperwork into contracts before summer, and the risk is plain: if the July target slips, Apache County roads and airports stay in the queue while residents keep waiting on the improvements meant to make travel safer and more reliable.

The Navajo Division of Transportation says its responsibilities run from administration and transportation planning to project management, roads maintenance, highway safety, airports management and the Navajo Transit System. A March 2025 NDOT report said those projects support access to education, healthcare, employment, economic development and job creation. NDOT has also tied recent work to roadway rehabilitation, culvert installation, drainage, subgrade preparation, gravel and soil stabilization, chip seal, pavement preservation, roadway lighting, low water crossings, road safety audits, right-of-way projects and airport rehabilitation.

Federal guidance makes the bottleneck even more important. Tribal Transportation Program projects have to be organized in a four-year, financially constrained TTPTIP developed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Federal Highway Administration before they can qualify for funding under Title 23 and Title 49 transportation programs. Nygren, elected in November 2022 and sworn in on January 10, 2023, has made reliable roads part of a broader push for basic infrastructure, alongside water and electricity, across Navajo communities. In Apache County, the next test is whether the approvals now being discussed can finally clear the projects that are ready to build.