U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content
Facebook iconYouTube iconTwitter iconFlickr iconLinkedInInstagram

Home / Resources / Legislation, Regulations and Guidance / Directives and Memorandum / Orders

FHWA Order M 1100.1.A

Order
Subject
FHWA Delegations and Organization Manual: Introduction
Classification Code Date: Office of Primary Interest
M 1100.1A, Chg. 27 May 30, 2002 HAIM-10

Introduction

Table of Contents

  1. What is the scope of this Manual?
    1. Part I - Delegations of Authority
    2. Part II - Organization and Functions
  2. Who is the issuing authority for this Manual?
  3. What are the functions and responsibilities of the FHWA Administrator?
  4. What organizational elements comprise the FHWA and what functions do they perform?
    1. Headquarters
    2. Field
      1. Resource Centers
      2. Federal-aid Division Offices
      3. Federal Lands Highway Divisions
  5. What are the origin and history of the FHWA?

FHWA Order M 1100.1A

FHWA DELEGATIONS AND ORGANIZATION MANUAL

Introduction

  1. What is the scope of this Manual? The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Delegations and Organization Manual documents the official, approved delegations of authority vested in the FHWA by law, regulation, or delegation from the Secretary of Transportation, and the organizational responsibilities and functional statements for all formal organizational elements. The Manual is summarized below:

    1. Part I - Delegations of Authority - documents the order of succession to certain official FHWA positions, reservations of authority, and the delegations of authority from the Administrator to certain Headquarters and field office officials. Authorities are classified generally according to program, i.e., Administrative, Federal-aid, Federal Lands, Highway Safety, and International Highway Programs.

    2. Part II - Organization and Functions - documents the approved formal organizational elements of the FHWA and the corresponding complete functional statements for the elements.
Top
  1. Who is the issuing authority for this Manual? The FHWA Delegations and Organization Manual is issued electronically by the Associate Administrator for Administration, after completion of coordination, as required, and final approval by the approving official. The authorities and procedures relative to the preparation and issuance of changes to this Manual are contained in Chapter 1, General, of each of the respective parts of this Manual.
Top
  1. What are the functions and responsibilities of the FHWA Administrator? The Administrator, assisted by the Deputy Administrator and Executive Director, provides executive direction over the various FHWA Headquarters and field organizations. The Administrator is directly accountable to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Transportation (DOT) for accomplishing the agency's mission and supporting the Secretary's goals and objectives. Each organizational element's functions are defined in detail within the respective chapter.
Top
  1. What organizational elements comprise the FHWA and what functions do they perform?

    1. Headquarters. Headquarters provides policy and overall program direction to the Agency. The Headquarters organization is comprised of the Office of the Chief Counsel and twelve Associate Administrator offices: Planning and Environment; Infrastructure; Operations; Safety; Federal Lands Highway; Policy; Public Affairs; Civil Rights; Corporate Management; Research, Development, and Technology; Professional Development; and Administration. The Headquarters' offices are arranged in a matrix structure, providing for effective collaboration among the offices. The Office of Planning and Environment, Infrastructure, Operations, Safety, and Federal Lands Highway are the corporate nucleus for strategic planning, policy, and technology delivery. The Office of Policy; Public Affairs; Civil Rights; Corporate Management; Research, Development, and Technology; Professional Development; and Administration provide service and support across the Agency. Integrated Product Teams, formally chartered by the Agency leadership, will also be utilized to focus on specific high priority projects for partners and customers.

    2. Field. The field organization delivers program services to the FHWA's partners and customers. This organization consists of resource centers, state-level Federal-aid division offices, and Federal Lands Highway divisions.

      1. Resource Centers. The resource centers support the state-level division offices in their primary role of program delivery to FHWA's partners and customers by providing leadership on strategic initiatives, and expert assistance on technical, process, and program issues; training; technology transfer; intermodal and interagency coordination; legal services; and civil rights. FHWA has four resource centers, namely, Eastern (Baltimore, Maryland), Southern (Atlanta, Georgia), Midwestern (Olympia Fields, Illinois), and Western (San Francisco, California), each serving a core constituency of Federal-aid division offices and Agency partners and customers in designated states. The term "core constituency" means that for the purpose of providing expert assistance to the division offices, the resource centers are assigned a designated group of states in their respective geographical areas. However, specific technical expertise in a given resource center may be shared with other resource centers and division offices throughout the country. In addition, the Midwestern resource center supports the DOT's crisis planning, training, and response programs. The resource centers do not exercise program control over the division offices.

        Collocated with each resource center is a Director of Field Services who provides administrative supervision and leadership on strategic initiatives to the constituent resource center and division offices. Also, the Director of Field Services (Midwest) is the Regional Emergency Transportation Coordinator for DOT Regions 5, 7, and 8.

      2. Federal-aid Division Offices. These division offices provide front line Federal-aid program delivery assistance to partners and customers in highway transportation and safety services, including but not limited to, planning and research, preliminary engineering, technology transfer, right-of-way, bridge, highway safety, traffic operations, environment, civil rights, design construction and maintenance, engineering coordination, highway beautification, and administration. Each of the fifty-two operating division offices (one in each state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico) is located in the same city as the department of transportation, which is usually the state capital. In addition, jointly with the Federal Transit Administration, the FHWA operates four metropolitan offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; New York, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California, that are extensions of their respective division offices. These offices provide assistance, guidance, and information regarding Federal transportation programs to local, state, and other Federal agencies in these metropolitan areas.

      3. Federal Lands Highway Divisions. The Federal Lands Highway (FLH) divisions, which report to the Headquarters Office of Federal Lands Highway, administer FLH programs (Forest Highways, Park Roads and Parkways, Public Lands, Refuge Roads, and Indian Reservation Roads); the Defense Access Roads Program; and the Emergency Relief Program on Federally Owned Roads; provide engineering related services to other Federal agencies, FHWA offices, and foreign countries as directed; and carry out technology and training activities related to FLH projects. There are three FLH divisions (Eastern, Central, and Western) located in Sterling, Virginia; Lakewood, Colorado; and Vancouver, Washington; respectively.
Top

What are the origin and history of the FHWA? The FHWA was established as a segment of the DOT on April 1, 1967. Representing the Federal interest in the Nation's highway transportation system, the Agency was comprised of entities transferred from the Bureau of Public Roads and the National Highway Safety Bureau within the Department of Commerce and the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety within the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC).

The Bureau of Public Roads began as the Office of Road Inquiry under the authority of the Agricultural Appropriation Act of 1894 and underwent various name changes and program expansions prior to becoming part of the FHWA; the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety was established pursuant to provisions of the Motor Carrier Act of August 9, 1935, subsequently cited as Part II of the Interstate Commerce Act; and the National Highway Safety Bureau was a composite of two separate agencies established pursuant to the Highway Safety Act of 1966 and the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966.

On March 22, 1970, the National Highway Safety Bureau was taken out of the FHWA and established as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) within DOT. At the time of this division, FHWA retained responsibility for administering those provisions of the Highway Safety Act of 1966 pertaining to highway-oriented aspects of highway safety, maintaining close coordination with NHTSA in carrying out these assigned responsibilities.

The FHWA assumed additional commercial interstate truck and bus regulatory functions as a result of the ICC Termination Act of 1995 (ICCTA).

On October 16, 1998, the FHWA restructured its field organization, abolishing the nine regions and regional offices - most program authorities had previously been delegated to the Federal-aid division offices. In addition, four resource centers were established as central locations for technical and program specialists, with responsibility for assisting the division offices and other customers and partners, as needed.

The FHWA's Headquarters restructured into a matrix organization on February 2, 1999, consisting of five core business units (CBUs) (i.e., Planning and Environment, Infrastructure, Operations, Motor Carrier and Highway Safety, and Federal Lands Highway), and eight service business units (SBUs) (i.e., Policy; Chief Counsel; Public Affairs; Civil Rights; Corporate Management; Research, Development, and Technology; Professional Development; and Administration). The Operations CBU included the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO), which has a departmentwide role that is overseen by the Deputy Secretary of Transportation and the ITS Management Council.

The FY 2000 Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, signed by former President Clinton on October 9, 1999, contained language prohibiting the use of the funds appropriated or limited in the Act to carry out the functions and operations of the "Office of Motor Carriers" within the FHWA. This effectively resulted in the transfer of motor carrier functions and operations out of the FHWA, including the interstate truck and bus regulatory functions previously assumed under ICCTA. By action of former Secretary Rodney Slater, motor carrier functions and operations were transferred out of the FHWA effective October 9, 1999. On December 9, 1999, former President Clinton signed the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999, which established a new administration, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, within the DOT effective January 1, 2000. The transfer of motor carrier safety functions out of the FHWA effectively resulted in the organizational abolishment of the FHWA's Motor Carrier and Highway Safety CBU.

Because safety remained a main emphasis in FHWA programs and policies, the FHWA determined that there was a need for a Safety CBU. On February 22, 2000, a Safety CBU was established within FHWA, and the Motor Carrier and Highway Safety CBU was formally abolished. Three offices were established within the Safety CBU on January 18, 2001, i.e., the Office of Safety Design, the Office of Safety Programs, and the Office of Program Integration and Delivery.

The Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) Joint Program Office (JPO), a multi-modal organizational element located within the FHWA, was also established on January 18, 2001. The TIFIA JPO administers the Federal credit program authorized by the Act in cooperation with the Office of the Secretary, the Federal Transit Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration. The office has a departmentwide role which is overseen by the Assistant Secretary for Budget and Programs and the TIFIA Credit Council (formerly known as the TIFIA Steering Committee).

In May 2002, FHWA's five CBUs and eight SBUs were retitled as "Offices", i.e., the Office of Planning and Environment; Office of Infrastructure; Office of Operations; Office of Safety; Office of Federal Lands Highway; Office of Policy; Office of Chief Counsel; Office of Public Affairs; Office of Civil Rights; Office of Corporate Management; Office of Research, Development, and Technology; Office of Professional Development; and the Office of Administration.

Page last modified on October 19, 2015
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000