The Department of the Interior today announced award of a contract for construction of 10.056 miles of roadway from Betatakin Turnoff to Marsh Pass on the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona.
This section of road is part of Navajo Route 1, for which authorizing legislation was provided by Public Law 85-740 enacted in 1958.
Completion of this 10.056 mile addition to the Indian Bureau's extensive road construction program on the Navajo Reservation will provide a total of approximately 70 miles of paved highway from U. S. 89 north of Flagstaff, extending northeast through Tuba City toward Kayenta.
Construction of Navajo Route 1 has aroused wide interest because of the rapid development of the Four Corners oil field to the northeast and the fact that the northern part of the Reservation and State of Arizona had no improved highway. When complete, this route will be a short cut from southwestern Colorado to the Grand Canyon, the West Coast and the entire northern part of the Navajo Reservation.
C & R Paving Company of Albuquerque, New Mexico was the successful bidder, with a low bid of $590,818.88. Nine other bids were submitted, ranging to a high of $843,519.37.
