Concern for safety characterizes today’s Federal-aid programs. This new section of U.S. 25 replaces a. steep, winding two-lane route built in 1929 near Greenville, S.C. Now the highway has a maximum of 6 percent grade and concrete median barriers between opposing traffic lanes where necessary.
arate budgeting procedures, as well as separate reporting and accounting procedures. The States and the FHWA were inundated with statistics.
But in 1973 major highway legislation was enacted which established more new programs: (1) Safety construction—a separate program for safer roads, roadside obstacles, high-hazard locations, and pavemen markings; (2) priority primary routes—high traffic routes on the Primary System which connected to the Interstate System; and (3) urban high density—high traffic routes in urbanized areas which connected to Interstate routes. Furthermore, highway projects on Interstate and Urban Systems could be traded for transit projects. In addition, bicycle and pedestrian paths could be constructed along highways, curb ramps for the handicapped were required, and special provisions were included to encourage carpooling.
In 1974 requirements for transporting the elderly and handicapped were enacted, along with enforced higher limitations on sizes and weights of trucks and buses and a national speed limit of 55 m.p.h. Funding was also permitted for road improvements not on a Federal-aid system for the first time since 1921.
It would normally be expected that such a large and complex program would require a large and complex organization to manage the program. This is not the case in the highway program, primarily for three reasons. The first is the unique Federal–State partnership which has already been discussed. The second reason is that as the program has grown, more responsibilities and authority have been decentralized to the FHWA field offices which work closely with the State highway departments. The third reason is that, since 1893, the Federal agency responsible for administering the highway program has had a strong interest in training and initiated its first formal training program in 1905. Since then, the organization has kept pace with the program by revising and updating its training program as new requirements arose.
Management of the Federal-Aid Program
The Federal Agency
To comprehend the management of such a large Federal-aid program, it is necessary first to understand the Federal agency charged with the responsibility for administering the Federal interest in the Nation’s principal highway programs for more than 80 years.
The original agency was established in the Department of Agriculture in October 1893 by Secretary J. Sterling Morton as a result of the $10,000 appropriation in the Department’s Appropriation Act. It is believed that the original Office of Road Inquiry consisted of the Special Agent and Engineer for Road Inquiry, General Roy Stone, and one secretary.
The Agriculture Appropriation Act for fiscal year 1897 added authority to investigate the best kinds of roadmaking materials in the several States. Through cooperation with the Division of Tests in the Bureau of Chemistry (Department of Agriculture), a laboratory was established by the Office of Public Road Inquiries in 1900 where any citizen interested in the construction of public highways could have road materials tested free of charge. The Appropriation Act for 1902 put this testing work directly under the Office of Public Road Inquiries by giving it an appropriation for the investigation of the chemical and physical character of road materials. Furthermore, by 1901 the idea of field representation had been established with the country divided into four segments with a part-time special agent for each division. This field representation over the years has been of great benefit by supporting the Federal–State relationship, and as the Federal-aid program expanded, the necessary interaction at the operational level was greatly enhanced.
In 1905 the agency’s name changed again to the Office of Public Roads and, by law, it was permitted to retain 10 employees. To carry out its major functions, the work was organized into three divisions: Highways, Laboratory Tests and Investigations, and Information. It is significant that a program of hiring student engineers (at $600 per year) was initiated in 1905 with the express purpose of training them for career highway engineer positions in the Office of Public Roads and in the State highway departments.
During 1911 part-time Special Agents were appointed for each State to improve the collection and reporting of information.
By then the Federal agency had already undergone three name changes and there were others to come. Since the identity of the Federal agency responsible for the Federal-aid highway program becomes rather obscure when the program becomes so complex and interrelated with other Federal agencies, the following table is a chronological listing:
| Date of Creation |
Organization Title |
Parent Organization |
Title of Top Executive |
| Oct. 3, 1893 | Office of Road Inquiry |
Dept. of Agriculture |
Special Agent and Engineer (1897 became Director) |
| FY 1899 | Office of Public Road Inquiries |
Dept. of Agriculture |
Director |
| July 1, 1905 | Office of Public Roads |
Dept. of Agriculture |
Director |
| July 1, 1915 | Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering |
Dept. of Agriculture |
Director |
| July 1, 1918 | Bureau of Public Roads |
Dept. of Agriculture |
Director (1919 became Chief) |
| July 1, 1939 | Public Roads Administration |
Federal Works Agency |
Commissioner |
