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FHWA By Day

A Look at the History of the Federal Highway Administration
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January 22
1923 BPR District Engineer J. W. Johnson and his assistant, A. V. Williamson, conclude a 3-day meeting in Denver with Colorado's State Highway Engineer, Major L. D. Blauvelt, and other State highway officials. The purpose of the meeting was to bring about closer cooperation by increasing the State's understanding of Federal requirements and procedures.
1934 A memo from Chief Thomas MacDonald establishes a district office in Washington, DC, for park and forest highway work in the eastern U.S., headed by H. J. Spelman. The office is the forerunner of today's Eastern Federal Lands Highway Division Office in Sterling, VA.
Photo: H. J. Spelman
H. J. Spelman
1969 Chief Justice Earl Warren administers the oath of office to Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe in a White House ceremony as President Richard Nixon looks on. Volpe is the only Federal Highway Administrator to become Secretary. (See September 18, 1990, and October 12, 1956.)
1970 In a speech to the National Limestone Institute in Washington, DC, Administrator Frank Turner comments on the New Year's Day signing of NEPA: "Our nation--whether in its cities or its rural areas--cannot live without transportation, and highways provide the overwhelming proportion of that transportation. But highways can and must be made compatible with and enhance the environment, at the same time that they provide essential transportation services."
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