the bulk of it being $4 billion of highway programs.[1] The purpose of the Act was:
The Congress therefore finds that the establishment of a Department of Transportation is necessary in the public interest and to assure the coordinated, effective administration of the transportation programs of the Federal Government; to facilitate the development and improvement of coordinated transportation service. . . .
On April 1, 1967, the Bureau of Public Roads became a bureau within the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in the new Department, Other functions transferred to FHWA were the regulatory motor carrier safety functions from the Interstate Commerce Commission and the highway safety and the traffic and motor vehicle safety functions created by congressional legislation in 1966 from the Department of Commerce. The other organizational elements of the new Department of Transportation (DOT) were the Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. Coast Guard, and the St, Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration was transferred to the Department from the Department of Housing and Urban Development on July 1, 1968.
As of December 31, 1967, the end of the first calendar year following creation of the new FHWA, its employment (including the three bureaus—Public Roads, Motor Carrier Safety, and the National Highway Safety Bureau) totaled 5,366, including temporary employees and 140 persons in foreign countries.
In March 1970 the National Highway Safety Bureau was separated from the Federal Highway Administration to become the seventh DOT operating administration and was renamed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. All of the Safety Bureau’s functions went with it except that responsibility for specified highway-oriented safety standards assigned to the Federal Highway Administration.
With the separation of the National Highway Safety Bureau, FHWA again was reorganized. The reorganization that became effective August 10, 1970, abolished the “Bureau of Public Roads” as an identifiable separate organizational component of FHWA. Instead of the former bureau structure, FHWA was divided into six new components made up of Planning. Research and Development, Right-of-Way and Environment, Engineering and Traffic Operations, Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, and Administration, each to be headed by an Associate Administrator. Staff offices directly responsible to the Administrator were the Offices of Chief Counsel, Program Review and Investigations, Public Affairs, and Civil Rights, each headed by a Director. In 1971, the National Highway Institute was added as the fifth staff office.
From August 1970 to March 1975, there were continual minor organizational changes in the Federal Highway Administration to keep abreast of the ever-broadening scope of FHWA’s programs and responsibilities. However, the total employment of FHWA as of December 31, 1974, was 5,134, including temporary employees and 39 persons in foreign countries and 28 persons in territories of the United States. Comparing the 1974 employment level with the 784 employees in June 1922 when the Federal-aid highway program was just getting underway and the growth of a program from $80 million at that time to over $6 billion in 1974, the current level of staffing is remarkable in terms of efficient program administration.
The Operational System
In order to proceed with the implementation of the program provided by the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, much had to be done at both the State and Federal levels. As mentioned earlier, the States had to enact legislation to satisfy the administrative requirements of organization, authorities, methods of financing the new Federal-aid matching requirements and future maintenance responsibilities, and the administrative and financial relationships with the States’ local governmental subdivisions.
At the Federal level, the small Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering (OPRRE) had to develop the implementing rules and regulations required by the Act and develop the necessary plan and organization for its role in administering the program, not only in the Washington Headquarters, but also at the field level in all the States.
The initial project procedures that were established under the Federal rules and regulations for the ad- ministration of the Federal-aid program were relatively simple and direct. These procedures included:
- A Project Statement or application was submitted to the OPRRE District Engineer describing the location, nature and estimated cost of the work. Upon review and an onsite inspection by the District Engineer, he forwarded the Project Statement with his recommendations to Washington for review by the Engineering Branch of the OPRRE and the approval by the Secretary of Agriculture.
- Upon approval, the State was authorized to proceed with the preparation of detailed plans, specifications and estimates (PS&E). The District Engineer reviewed the PS&E and made another onsite inspection with “plans in hand,” and forwarded everything with his recommendations to Washington for final review and approval.
- A Project Agreement was prepared for signature, first by the authorized State official and then by the Secretary of Agriculture, which represented the contractual agreement between the State and Federal Government, The Project Agreement established the maximum amount of the Federal participation and the State’s responsibility for adequate maintenance of the completed project. When this document was executed, the State was free to proceed with construction.
- Direct supervision of the construction was the responsibility of the State. However, a staff member of the OPRRE District Office made monthly inspections and reported his evaluation of the work to Washington. These reports were used as the basis for approval of requests for progress payments to the State. Progress pay- ments could not exceed the Federal share of the cost of the work and materials actually put in place in accordance with the plans and specifications.
- Upon completion of the project, the OPRRE District Engineer made a final onsite inspection
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- ↑ Dept. of Transportation, The United States Department of Transportation—Its Organization and Functions (GPO, Washington, D.C., 1967) p. 1.
