The House Transportation Committee unanimously recommended a due pass on House Bill 1056, a bill the DOT described as a statutory clarification that would allow a planned bridge across Lake Oahe near Standing Rock to be incorporated into the state highway system and maintained as a state bridge when constructed.

Ron Henke, director of the North Dakota Department of Transportation, said the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe received federal grant funding to carry out preliminary engineering and design work for a new crossing. He told the committee that the bill’s sole purpose is to make clear the DOT would take over the bridge and connecting roads "at some point," either during or after construction, and that the bridge would be treated like other state highway bridges. Henke said the tribe received grant funds from the U.S. Department of Transportation passed through the Bureau of Indian Affairs for environmental and engineering work.

Committee members asked whether the tribe will build to state standards and how construction and funding would work; Henke said the tribe has engineering funds for design and environmental work now and that if the state participates in construction it would generally be under the federal-state match formulas used on other projects. The DOT said it will work as an adviser to ensure designs meet state and federal requirements if the tribe leads design and procurement.

The committee voted unanimously to send the bill forward. Members stressed that any future construction agreements would require compliance with state and federal design, permitting and procurement standards and that any funding arrangements would be reviewed before the DOT assumed maintenance responsibility.

Votes at a glance: House Bill 1056 — committee recommendation: Due pass (14–0).