Federal Highway Administration

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

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. In 1893, the federal Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was founded; in 1905, it was renamed the Office of Public Roads (OPR) and made a division of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. With the coming of the automobile, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and modernize dirt roads designed for horse-drawn wagon traffic. In 1910, the American Association for Highway Improvement was organized. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, as well as state aid. By 1914, there were 2.4 million miles of rural dirt rural roads; 100,000 miles had been improved with grading and gravel, and 3,000 miles were given high-quality surfacing. The rapidly increasing speed of automobiles, and especially trucks, made maintenance and repair high-priority items.

In 1915, OPR's name was changed to the Bureau of Public Roads. The following year, federal aid was first made available to improve post roads and promote general commerce: $75 million over five years, issued through the BPR in cooperation with the state highway departments.

In 1939, BPR was renamed to the Public Roads Administration (PRA) and shifted to the Federal Works Agency. After the FWA was abolished in 1949, the organization was once again named the Bureau of Public Roads; it was placed under the Department of Commerce.

From 1917 through 1941, 261,000 miles of highways were built with $3.17 billion in federal aid and $2.14 billion in state and local funds.

Creation The Federal Highway Administration was created on October 15, 1966, along with the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety and the National Highway Safety Bureau (now known as National Highway Traffic Safety Administration), as part of the new U.S. Department of Transportation. The FHWA took over the functions of the Bureau of Public Roads the following year.

Functions The FHWA's role in the Federal-aid Highway Program is to oversee federal funds to build and maintain the National Highway System (primarily Interstate highways, U.S. highways 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. The FLHP also jointly administers the Indian Reservation Roads Program.

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 provides such standards as the size, color and height of traffic signs, traffic signals 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 In 2010, FHWA launched the Every Day Counts (EDC) initiative to identify and deploy innovations to reduce project delivery time, enhance safety, and protect the environment. EDC is a state-based model that rapidly deploys proven, yet underutilized innovations. FHWA works with State transportation departments, local governments, tribes, private industry, and other stakeholders to identify a new collection of innovations to champion every two years that merit accelerated deployment. Among the approaches promoted by the EDC effort are: adaptive traffic control to reduce fuel consumption and improve travel time reliability; alternative intersection design; prefabricated bridge elements and systems; high-friction surface treatments; warm mix asphalt; ultra-high-performance concrete; virtual public involvement; and time-saving strategies such as rapid bridge replacement. Since the inception of EDC, each state has used 26 or more of the 57 innovations and some states have deployed more than 45. Many of these practices have become mainstream practices across the country.

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 and deputy secretary of transportation. The internal organization of the FHWA is as follows: Office of Administration Office of Chief Counsel Office of the Chief Financial Officer Office of Civil Rights Office of Federal Lands Highway Office of Infrastructure Office of Innovation and Workforce Solutions Office of Operations Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty Office of Policy and Government Affairs Office of Public Affairs Office of Research, Development, and Technology Office of Safety

Administrators The following persons served as the administrator of the Federal Highway Administration or one of its predecessors:

PortraitAdministratorTerm startedTerm endedNotes1Roy StoneOctober 3, 1893October 13, 1899Special agent and engineer for the Office of Road Inquiry2Martin DodgeJanuary 31, 18991905Director of the Office of Public Road Inquiries3Logan Waller Page1905December 9, 19184Thomas Harris MacDonaldApril 1, 1919June 30, 1939Chief of the Bureau of Public RoadsJuly 1, 1939August 19, 1949Administrator of the Public Roads AdministrationAugust 20, 1949March 31, 1953Commissioner of the Bureau of Public Roads5Francis Victor du PontApril 1, 1953January 14, 19556Charles Dwight CurtissJanuary 14, 1955October 19567John A. VolpeOctober 22, 1956February 5, 19578Bertram D. TallamyFebruary 5, 1957January 20, 19619Rex Marion WhittonJanuary 20, 1961December 30, 196610Lowell K. BridwellMarch 23, 1967March 31, 1967Commissioner of the Bureau of Public RoadsApril 1, 1967January 20, 1969Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration11Francis TurnerMarch 13, 1969June 30, 1972actingRalph BartelsmeyerJuly 1, 1972June 1, 197312Norbert TiemannJune 1, 1973March 31, 197713William M. CoxApril 7, 1977May 1, 197814Karl S. BowersApril 3, 1978January 198015John S. Hassell Jr.July 11, 1980February 5, 198116Ray BarnhartFebruary 12, 1981December 31, 198717Robert E. FarrisJune 8, 1988May 17, 198918Thomas D. LarsonAugust 10, 1989January 20, 199319Rodney E. SlaterJune 3, 1993February 14, 199720Kenneth R. WykleDecember 2, 1997September 4, 200121Mary E. PetersOctober 2, 2001July 29, 200522J. Richard CapkaMay 31, 2006January 24, 200823Thomas J. Madison Jr.August 18, 2008January 20, 200924Victor MendezJanuary 20, 2009July 24, 201425Gregory G. NadeauJuly 30, 2014January 20, 2017actingBrandye HendricksonJuly 24, 2017May 6, 201926Nicole NasonMay 7, 2019January 20, 2021actingStephanie PollackFebruary 24, 2021January 13, 202327Shailen BhattJanuary 13, 2023September 10, 2024actingKristin WhiteSeptember 11, 2024December 16, 2024actingGloria M. ShepherdDecember 17, 2024September 23, 202528Sean McMasterSeptember 23, 2025Present

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 June 5, 1977 – August 3, 1978 John S. Hassell, Jr. August 31, 1978 – July 11, 1980 Alinda Burke August 8, 1980 – ? Lester P. Lamm September 17, 1982 – 1986 Robert E. Farris August 8, 1986 - June 8, 1988 Eugene R. McCormick June 30, 1989 - ? Gloria J. Jeff December 19, 1997 – January 3, 1999 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 July 8, 2009 – July 30, 2014 Brandye Hendrickson July 24, 2017 – July 19, 2019 Mala Parker October 10, 2019 – January 20, 2021 Stephanie Pollack January 27, 2021 – February 1, 2023 Andrew Rogers February 27, 2023 – January 2024 Kristin White May 20, 2024 – December 16, 2024 Gloria Shepherd (acting) December 17, 2024 – October 22, 2025 Jay Payne November 12, 2025 – Present

Executive directors Lester P. Lamm, August 8, 1973 – ? Thomas D. Everett, October 22, 2018 – June 30, 2022 Mayela Sosa (Acting), June 30, 2022 - October 20, 2022 Gloria M. Shepherd, October 20, 2022 - October 22, 2025

Federal Highway Administration

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