FHWA History at-a-glance

On October 3, 1893, a small office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened, with an annual budget of only $10,000. The Office of Road Inquiry was created to gather and disseminate information on road building. At that time most road construction was performed by county and township governments.

In the 100 plus years since creation of the Office of Road Inquiry, many things have changed. The office grew from just two employees to about 3,500 and its annual budget grew from $10,000 to more than $26 billion. The office is now known as the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, which was formed in 1967.The Federal-aid highway program began in 1916, during the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson. Federal-aid funds were apportioned to the States to assist in road projects, with the original matching ratio being 50-50 (today, the matching ratio is 80-20 for most projects, 90-10 for most Interstate System projects). One of the requirements for Federal-aid was that each State must have a State road agency. The Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) serves this function.Federal funding has been provided to the State highway agencies for a wide variety of transportation-related programs. Initially, the funding was restricted to road and bridge projects. In 1956, the program expanded to include funding for what is now officially called the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways, more commonly called the Interstate System, with the Federal Highway Trust Fund providing a stable source of funding, from highway users, for the Federal-aid highway program.From its inception, the Federal-aid highway program has been based on a State/Federal partnership, one of the most successful in history. The State is responsible for working with local governments to select Federal-aid projects and for planning, design, and construction. The FHWA's primary role is to oversee the expenditure of Federal-aid funds to assure Federal laws, standards, and regulatory requirements are satisfied. Among other responsibilities, the FHWA also provides technical assistance to improve the quality of the transportation network, offers training opportunities, conducts transportation research, and disseminates research results throughout the country.

The FHWA Division Office in each State is where the true State/Federal partnership is most evident. The FHWA's staff of 22 in Glastonbury, Connecticut works with the ConnDOT as a true partnership. FHWA Division Administrator Brad Keazer and his staff coordinate and communicate with ConnDOT management and staff regularly to ensure that Federal assistance to the State is used in the most efficient manner possible. The list of partners and customers of FHWA has expanded dramatically in recent years to include a wide range of stakeholders; including environmental organizations, planning interests, other mode representatives, etc.The FHWA is Headquartered in Washington, D.C. It currently has four Resource Centers with Connecticut and other States in the Northeast within the area of the Eastern Resource Center located in Baltimore, Maryland. The Resource Centers not only serve to support the Division Offices but they also are available to help other modes within the U.S. DOT.The FHWA has been in an era of rapid change since enactment of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). That legislation made major changes to Federal surface transportation programs and authorized increased funding through the 6-year life of the legislation. One of ISTEA's important provisions involved the creation of the National Highway System (NHS) of 155,000 miles, plus or minus 15 percent. It includes the 42,795-mile Interstate System and other principal highways critical for defense and for the movement of people and goods. The NHS was designated under the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995. The NHS is the backbone of the National Intermodal Transportation System, as envisioned by ISTEA, and is critical to maintaining and improving the Nation's economic health.The ISTEA also gave State and local officials substantial flexibility to shift funding among surface transportation modes (e.g., highway funding used for transit projects). High technology is becoming a major area of increased emphasis with, for example, substantial funding being provided by ISTEA for Intelligent Transportation Systems. Smart highways and smart cars are being developed to assist in providing safer, cleaner, and more efficient use of our transportation infrastructure. The programs authorized by ISTEA expired on September 30, 1997. However, most of these programs were extended to May 1, 1998 by the Surface Transportation Extension Act of 1997 to allow the U.S. Congress, U.S. Department of Transportation, State transportation agencies, and many others to craft Federal transportation legislation which will carry us into the next century. Legislation to reauthorize a broad range of Federal surface transportation programs was enacted on June 9, 1998. That legislation, the Transporation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), continues most of the programs initiated by ISTEA. TEA-21 authorizes funding and programs through Fiscal Year 2003.The Connecticut Division of the FHWA is located at 628-2 Hebron Avenue, Suite 303, Glastonbury, Connecticut 06033-5007. All Division Office Employees can be reached at (860) 659-6703.

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