The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads.

History

Background

The organization has several predecessor organizations and complicated history. The Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was founded in 1893. In 1905, that organization's name was changed to the Office of Public Roads (OPR) which became a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. The name was changed again to the Bureau of Public Roads in 1915 and to the Public Roads Administration (PRA) in 1939. It was then shifted to the Federal Works Agency which was abolished in 1949 when its name reverted to Bureau of Public Roads under the

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

. With the coming of the bicycle in the 1890s, interest grew regarding the improvement of streets and roads in America. The traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. New York State took the lead in 1898, and by 1916 the old system had been discarded everywhere. Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile after 1910, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and modernize dirt roads designed for horse-drawn wagon traffic. The American Association for Highway Improvement was organized in 1910. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, as well as state aid. In 1916, federal-aid was first made available to improve post-roads, and promote general commerce. Congress appropriated $75 million over a five-year period, with the Secretary of Agriculture in charge through the Bureau of Public Roads, in cooperation with the state highway departments. There were 2.4 million miles of rural dirt rural roads in 1914; 100,000 miles had been improved with grading and gravel, and 3000 miles were given high quality surfacing. The rapidly increasing speed of automobiles, and especially trucks, made maintenance and repair high-priority item. Concrete was first used in 1893, and expanded until it became the dominant surfacing material in the 1930s. Federal aid began in 1917. From 1917 through 1941, 261,000 miles of highways were built with federal aid, and cost $5.31 billion. Federal funds totaled $3.17 billion, and state-local funds were $2.14 billion.

Creation

The FHWA was created on October 15, 1966. In 1967, the functions of the Bureau of Public Roads were transferred to the new organization. It was one of three original bureaus along with the 'Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety' and the 'National Highway Safety Bureau' (now known as National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).

Functions

The FHWA's role in the Federal-aid Highway Program is to oversee federal funds used for constructing and maintaining the National Highway System (primarily

Interstate Highways The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

U.S. Highways The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these h ...

and most state highways). This funding mostly comes from the federal gasoline tax and mostly goes to state departments of transportation. The FHWA oversees projects using these funds to ensure that federal requirements for project eligibility, contract administration and construction standards are adhered to. Under the Federal Lands Highway Program (sometimes called "direct fed"), the FHWA provides highway design and construction services for various federal land-management agencies, such as the Forest Service and the National Park Service. In addition to these programs, the FHWA performs and sponsors research in the areas of roadway safety, congestion, highway materials and construction methods, and provides funding to local technical assistance program centers to disseminate research results to local highway agencies. The FHWA also publishes the '' Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices'' (MUTCD), which is used by most highway agencies in the United States. The MUTCD specifies such things as the size, color and height of traffic signs,

traffic signals Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traffic. Traffic lights ...

and road surface markings.

Programs

Long-Term Pavement Performance Program

Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) is a program supported by the FHWA to collect and analyse road data. The LTPP program was initiated by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) of the National Research Council (NRC) in the early 1980s. The FHWA with the cooperation of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sponsored the program. As a result of this program, the FHWA has collected a huge database of road performance. The FHWA and the ASCE hold an annual contest known as LTPP International Data Analysis Contest, which is based on challenging researchers to answer a question based on the LTPP data.

Every day counts initiative

The ''Every day counts initiative'' (EDC) of the FHWA planned in 2009 and started in 2011 is designed as the United States road infrastructure project of the 2010s decade to identify and deploy innovation aimed at reducing project build delivery time, enhancing safety and protecting the environment. It also made a positive impact in accelerating the deployment of innovations. Five steps were scheduled from 2012 to 2020 and include various technologies and methods to improve travel time, safety, project and contract management, saving energy, risks, cost and environment resources. It started with reducing

fuel consumption A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

and improving travel time reliability by Adaptive traffic control, continued with implementing

alternative intersection An intersection or an at-grade junction is a junction where two or more roads converge, diverge, meet or cross at the same height, as opposed to an interchange, which uses bridges or tunnels to separate different roads. Major intersections a ...

s design and several money savings and anti-corruption strategies like independent reviewing of construction plans before construction is paid, also time saving strategies like right-of-way, on site bridge constructions as rapid bridge replacement.

Organization

The Federal Highway Administration is overseen by an administrator appointed by the President of the United States by and with the consent of the United States Senate. The administrator works under the direction of the

Secretary of Transportation A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a wh ...

and

Deputy Secretary of Transportation The deputy secretary of transportation advises and assists the secretary of transportation in the supervision and direction of the Department of Transportation (DOT). The deputy secretary would succeed the secretary in his or her absence, sicknes ...

. The internal organization of the FHWA is as follows: *Administrator **Executive Director ***Office of Infrastructure ***Office of Research, Development, and Technology ****''Public Roads'' magazine ***Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty ***Office of Policy and Government Affairs ***Office of the Chief Financial Officer ***Office of Administration ***Office of Operations ***Office of Safety ***Office of Federal Lands Highway ***Office of Chief Counsel ***Office of Civil Rights ***Office of Public Affairs

Administrators

Deputy administrators

* D. Grant Mickle October 27, 1961 – January 20, 1964 * Lowell K. Bridwell (acting) January 20, 1964 – March 23, 1967 * Ralph Bartelsmeyer August 10, 1970 – January 25, 1974 * Joseph R. Coupal Jr September 30, 1974 – 1977 *

Karl S. Bowers Karl S. Bowers (born October 13, 1941 in Estill, South Carolina), was married and has three children. He came from a highway background, having served as a South Carolina State Highway Commissioner, 1974 to 1977; Vice Chairman of the State High ...

June 5, 1977 – August 3, 1978 *

John S. Hassell, Jr. John S. Hassell Jr. (May 3, 1943 – October 11, 2011) was an American civil engineer. He became Associate Administrator for Planning in 1977, Deputy Federal Highway Administrator in 1978, and Administrator on July 11, 1980. Prior to his fede ...

August 31, 1978 – July 11, 1980 * Alinda Burke August 8, 1980 – ? * Lester P. Lamm September 17, 1982 – 1986 *

Robert E. Farris Robert E. Farris (–) was sworn in as Federal Highway Administrator on June 8, 1988, after serving as the FHWA's Deputy Federal Highway Administrator from August 1986. Before joining the FHWA, Farris was affiliated with the American Association ...

August 8, 1986 - June 8, 1988 * Eugene R. McCormick June 30, 1989 - ? * Gloria J. Jeff December 19, 1997 – January 3, 1999 * Dr Walter Sutton Jr (acting) January 3, 1999 – May 3, 2000 May 3, 2000 – January 2001 * J. Richard Capka August 5, 2002 – May 31, 2006 * Kerry O'Hare November 10, 2008 – January 20, 2009 *

Gregory G. Nadeau Gregory G. Nadeau is a politician and former Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration which he served from 2015 to 2017. Nadeau carried out the duties of the Federal Highway Administrator in acting capacity from 2014 to 2015 after hi ...

July 8, 2009 – July 30, 2014 * Brandye Hendrickson July 24, 2017 – October 9, 2019 * Mala Parker October 10, 2019 – January 20, 2021 *

Stephanie Pollack Stephanie Pollack is an American government official who serves as the deputy administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Pollack is also serving as acting administrator pending Senate confirmation of administrator nominee Shailen Bhatt. ...

January 21, 2021 – Current

Executive directors

*Lester P. Lamm, August 8, 1973 – ? *Thomas D. Everett, October 22, 2018 – June 30, 2022 *Mayela Sosa (Acting), June 30, 2022 - Present

Notes

References

External links

*
Federal Highway Administration
in the

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every weekday, except on feder ...

Payment to the Highway Trust Fund
account on

USAspending.gov ttp://www.usaspending.gov USASpending.govis a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Act's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a site that would do essentially eve ...

Highway Infrastructure Programs
account on USAspending.gov
Records of the Federal Highway Administration
(Record Group 406) in the National Archives {{authority control United States Department of Transportation agencies Government agencies established in 1967