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Federal Highway Administration
Federal Highway Administration
Agency overview
Formed	April 1, 1967
Preceding agency	Bureau of Public Roads
Jurisdiction	United States Government
Headquarters	Washington, D.C.
Agency executives	Victor Mendez, Administrator; Greg Nadeau, Deputy Administrator; Jeffrey F. Paniati, P.E., Executive Director; Karen Hedlund, Chief Counsel
Parent agency	US Department of Transportation
Website
	Federal Highway Administration Website

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.

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, U.S. Routes and most State Routes). This funding mostly comes from the federal gasoline tax and mostly goes to State departments of transportation. 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"), 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, FHWA performs research in the areas of automobile safety, congestion, highway materials and construction methods. 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.

FHWA was created on October 15, 1966; however, it has several predecessor organizations and a complicated history.[1] The first predecessor was the Office of Road Inquiry (ORI), founded in 1893. In 1905 that organization's name was changed to the Office of Public Roads (OPR), and it became a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. The name was changed to Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) in 1915. In 1939 the name was changed to Public Roads Administration (PRA) and it was shifted to the Federal Works Agency (FWA). With the abolition of the FWA in 1949, its name was changed back to BPR and it was shifted to the Department of Commerce. In 1967 the BPR was transferred to the newly created FHWA, and was one of three original bureaus along with the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety and the National Highway Safety Bureau (now known as NHTSA).[2]

[edit] Key officials

Martin Dodge, 1899–1905
Logan Waller Page, 1905–18
Thomas Harris MacDonald, 1919–53
Francis V. DuPont, 1953–55
Charles Dwight (Cap) Curtiss, 1955–57
John Anthony Volpe, 1956–57
Bertram D. Tallamy, 1957–61
Rex Marion Whitton, 1961–66
Lowell K. Bridwell, 1967–69
Francis C. Turner, 1969–72
Norbert T. Tiemann, 1973–77
William M. Cox, 1977–78

Karl S. Bowers, 1978–80
John S. Hassell, Jr., 1980–81
Ray A. Barnhart, 1981–87
Robert E. Farris, 1988–89
Thomas D. Larson, 1989–93
Rodney E. Slater, 1993–97
General Kenneth R. Wykle, 1997–2001
Mary E. Peters, 2001–05
J. Richard Capka, 2006–08
Thomas J. Madison Jr., 2008–09
Victor Mendez, since 2009

Current:

Administrator – Victor Mendez
Deputy Administrator – Greg Nadeau
Executive Director – Jeffrey F. Paniati

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Federal Highway Administration Home Page