Commissioner of Indian Affairs Morris Thompson announced today that a contract amounting to nearly $2.5 million has been let by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, for the construction of a 14 mile stretch of bituminous paved highway in the Glen Canyon Dam area of the Navajo Indian Reservation.
Successful bidder is Thorn Construction Co., Inc. of Provo, Utah.
This is the first of the proposed contracts to be let for the modernization of BIA Route N 20, which will give the public a year-round route from Flagstaff, Ariz., to the Lake Powell Recreation Area, Thompson indicated. The contract calls for construction of the highway beginning near Coppermine Ariz., and running north to join with BIA Route N 22 near Page, Ariz.
The new $2.5 million stretch of highway will replace the present narrow dirt road in the area with an all-weather bituminous highway. This will enable Navajo to get to schools, shopping and trading centers and places of employment more easily and for longer periods of time during the year, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs said.
"Good roads are the lifeline of economic and social development," said Commissioner Thompson. “The Navajo Indian Reservation is the largest Indian reservation in the United States and the need for an improved road system there is acute. I am happy to announce this project."
