The State Department of Transportation held its first Tribal Transportation Conference this week.
It's the outgrowth of a partnering agreement signed by the DOT and all 11 of the state's tribes.
The DOT's Kevin Chesnick says the agency has met with individual tribes on specific issues but this is the first time everyone has come together in a discussion of transportation issues.
Chesnick says it gives tribal leaders a chance to have a say in DOT projects that affect them such as the major Highway 41 project from Oshkosh to Green Bay that will go through portions of the Oneida Nation.
Chesnick says dealing with various minority interests in Milwaukee's Marquette Interchange Project has provided a model for construction projects in other parts of the state.
