April 13
| 1971 | Under instructions issued by FHWA today, each urbanized area must be certified annually by the FHWA regional office as having an areawide policy board, an acceptable organizational arrangement to carry on the work, and an acceptable planning process. The FHWA Division Engineer can approve proposed projects only in certified areas and only if the project is part of a program that implements a plan held currently valid by the policy board. |
| 2008 | Jeffrey F. Paniati takes the oath of office as Executive Director, FHWA's highest career post. After joining FHWA in 1983 as a Highway Engineer Trainee, he served in a variety of posts, most recently as Associate Administrator for Operations. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters recommended him for the post and he was approved by President George W. Bush. |
| 2009 | President Barack Obama visits DOT to announce funding for the 2,000th transportation project under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, only 6 weeks after the first project was approved under the recession relief legislation. The President, who is joined by Vice President Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood in the West Atrium, says, "I am proud to utter the two rarest phrases in the English language - projects are being approved ahead of schedule, and they are coming in under budget." |
