Route 5010


Written by: Natalie Smith


https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/02/new-mexico-navajo-nation-searchlight-native-american#img-1



          In the Sanostee chapter of the Navajo nation, there is a long road called route 5010. Route 5010 is a dirt road that many people use to travel through the Navajo Nation. The road, however, is in poor condition. The road has been the cause of quite a few issues for those who live along the route. A woman who lives along the route told her story, “one day her father had just returned home and he collapsed. The rain had been constant that day and the road became extremely muddy. It took three ambulances to finally reach her father, the first two got stuck in the mud. She wonders if the ambulance could have gotten there sooner maybe her father would have survived” (Linn & Landry 2019). The road needs to be improved not only to allow emergency personnel to do their job but for people to just live their everyday lives.  “Nearly everyone in the Sanostee chapter has a story about Indian service route 5010, a seven-mile corridor that connects as many as 2,500 residents to the outside world – or denies them access altogether”(Linn & Landry 2019). School buses also have trouble making their routes when the weather makes the roads impassable. “The federal government and its Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) have historically failed to furnish even the most basic infrastructure necessary to operate local schools. Among the most obvious failures: federal agencies refused to construct roads that would allow children to ride a bus to schools near their home. Instead, they were sent to distant boarding schools that stripped them of their Native language and culture” (Linn & Landry 2019).
Many would like to see improvements made on the road but, they are not optimistic. “According to the most recent estimates, pavement costs $3m a mile, while cheaper alternatives such as double chip seal or gravel cost $350,000 and $250,000 a mile, respectively. Just putting down gravel on all the Navajo nation’s roads would cost more than $2bn” (Linn & Landry 2019).
The Navajo just continue to hope for a better future for future generations.





Sources

Linn, Amy, and Alysa Landry. “Dire Streets: Muddied Roads and Broken Promises on the Navajo Nation.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 2 Apr. 2019, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/02/new-mexico-navajo-nation-searchlight-native-american.

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