Opponents of the South Lawrence Trafficway say a newly minted resolution means more than 500 American Indian tribes support efforts to block the road’s construction.

But federal officials say they still prefer to hear from each tribe individually before deciding if the bypass should be built through the Baker Wetlands.

The National Congress of American Indians, representing more than 500 tribes in North America, last week passed a resolution calling for “halting and termination” of the trafficway project.

The group, meeting in Washington, D.C., agreed with Lawrence-area opponents who argue completion of the highway nearby would destroy cultural, historical and educational foundations of the Haskell Indian Nations University campus in southeast Lawrence.

“It’s something that we’ve always been saying to the city and the county and the state, but it’s never gotten across,” said Anna Wilson, spokesperson for the Wetlands Preservation Organization. “Hopefully this message will get across to everybody, and (get there) loud and clear.”

Robert Smith, project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said he would prefer to hear individually from the 26 indigenous tribes of Kansas, plus any others, before the corps recommends a course of action. Letters seeking comment from the tribes went out Feb. 6 with responses requested within 45 days.

“It’s input that will be important to us, and we’ll certainly take it under consideration, but in the hierarchy of concerns I would put the comments directly from the individual tribes before that generic resolution,” Smith said.

The completed trafficway could connect U.S Highway 59 and Noria Road along a route north of the Wakarusa River, south of the river or not at all, Smith said.

State officials estimate that the road extension would cost $90 million to $100 million.

Wilson and others  including the Haskell Student Senate and Haskell Alumni Assn.  sought support from the American Indian congress, in part, to help communicate with individual tribes. The group intends to send copies of the resolution to all tribes, along with a letter encouraging each one to comment on the trafficway project.

“Hopefully this will build some momentum for the opposition,” said Pat Kincaid, president of the Wetlands Preservation Organization. “We still feel like we have a chance to stop it. The future of Haskell depends on them putting the trafficway south of the Wakarusa River.”

Mike Rees, chief counsel for the Kansas Department of Transportation, said the state’s “preferred route” for the eastern leg of the trafficway would follow a route north of the river  along what would be 32nd Street between Louisiana Street and Haskell Avenue.

The U.S Army Corps of Engineers’ own environmental impact statement, expected to be completed in draft form this spring, will recommend a preferred route or recommend that the trafficway not be completed.

Rees said he wasn’t surprised by the resolution.

“The NCAI can come forward and express their opinion, but as far as finding a legal basis to stopping the project, it’s not there,” Rees said. “It’s not a factor, other than whatever political weight it has. It does not, in and of itself, have any legal impact.”