Approximately 30 percent of the land in the United States is under jurisdiction of the Federal government. The Federal Land Management Agencies (FLMAs) include: the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, and the Department of Defense, including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC). The Office of Federal Lands Highway (FLH) works with these Federal agencies, Indian Tribes, State Departments of Transportation (State DOT) and Local Public Agencies (LPA) to administer the Federal Lands and Tribal Transportation Program.

On October 1, 2012, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) established the Federal Lands and Tribal Transportation Program (FLTTP). The FLTTP was continued under the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act or "FAST Act" and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Prior to 2013, the transportation needs of the FLMAs were addressed under the Federal Lands Highway Program (FLHP). The FLHP was created with the 1982 Surface Transportation Assistance Act and was reauthorized with each new Transportation bill until MAP-21.

The FLTTP is comprised of the Tribal Transportation Program (23 U.S. Code § 202), the Federal Lands Transportation Program (23 U.S. Code § 203), and the Federal Lands Access Program (23 U.S. Code § 204). Together these programs make available over one billion dollars annually to address the funding needs for Federal lands transportation facilities, tribal transportation facilities, and Federal lands access transportation facilities across the states and the territories.

In addition to the FLTTP, FLH administers the Nationally Significant Federal Lands and Tribal Projects Program which provides funding for the construction, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of nationally significant projects within, adjacent to, or accessing Federal and tribal lands. In collaboration with the SDDC, the FLH co-administers the Defense Access Road program which provides a means for the military to pay their share of the cost of public highway improvements necessary to mitigate an unusual impact of a defense activity.

The continued success of the Federal Lands Transportation Programs hinges in large part on intergovernmental cooperation between FLMAs, the State DOTs, LPAs, and the Federal Highway Administration. Leveraging the strengths of each agency to support and advance their respective missions continues to be just as important today as it was in the early 1900 s when these collaborative relationships were forged. The goal of the FLH is to foster these relationships, build intergovernmental agreement to solidify how we work together, and ensure that as stewards of the taxpayers dollars, we deliver services and projects efficiently and successfully for the American people.