November 10
| 1953 | In his first address to AASHO as Commissioner of Public Roads, F. V. du Pont says he quickly found that BPR's organization "was such that the deputies did not share in the responsibilities of management nor were their efforts coordinated . . . . I felt the staff type of organization superior and immediately arranged for weekly meetings with the deputies and solicitor who, together with myself, are responsible for the formulation of policies, making decisions, etc." He notes that he had discontinued the practice of special extensions for men in top BPR positions who had reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 and had retained management counselors Booz, Allen, and Hamilton to conduct an unbiased study of procedures and operations. | |
| 1976 | FHWA and the Canadian Department of Public Works jointly announce an agreement for reconstruction of 205 miles of the Alaska Highway and 117 miles of the Haines Cutoff Road. The agreement was negotiated under the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, which authorized $58.6 million for the reconstruction. The first element of work will be an environmental impact statement. | |
| 1981 | Senator William Proxmire awards his monthly "Golden Fleece Award" to the FHWA for the Interstate System, which in 1956 was estimated to run $27 billion. The citation read, for the "Worst record of civilian cost overruns in the federal government," citing a 267-percent, $100-billion cost overrun that "dwarfs any other civil project." | |
| 1992 | At the Dallas/Fort Worth Hyatt Airport Hotel, Administrator Thomas Larson signs the "National Policy on the Quality of Highways," joining representatives of AASHTO, ARTBA, and the American Consulting Engineers Council, the American Concrete Pavement Association, Associated General Contractors of America, National Asphalt Pavement Association, and the National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, thereby launching the National Quality Initiative.
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| 2008 | Kerry O'Hare becomes Deputy Federal Highway Administrator. Having worked for New York's U.S. Congressman Peter T. King and Governor George E. Pataki, Ms. O'Hare joined the U.S. Department of Transportation in November 2005. She was the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Governmental Affairs at the time of her appointment as Deputy Administrator. She would serve through the end of President George W. Bush's second term, January 20, 2009. |
