October 3
| 1893 | Agriculture Secretary J. Sterling Morton establishes ORI, the first Federal road Agency, in two small attic rooms of the main Agriculture Building. The Agency consists of General Roy Stone, Special Agent and Engineer for Road Inquiry, and Robert Grubbs, stenographer. Its budget is $10,000. Largely a response to lobbying by bicycle enthusiasts for better roads, ORI is given a mission of making inquiries on systems of road management, investigating the best methods of road making, preparing didactic publications, and assisting the agricultural colleges and experiment stations in disseminating information on this subject."It must be borne in mind that the actual expense in the construction of these highways is to be borne by the localities and States in which they lie." 
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| 1970 | Ribbon-cutting ceremonies open a 77-mile section of I-80 between Laramie and Walcott, WY, the longest stretch of Interstate to open at one time with no portion of the entire length previously open. Deputy Administrator Ralph Bartelsmeyer participates. (The second longest stretch had opened on October 14, 1962, a 65-mile stretch of I-90 between Buffalo and Gillette, WY.) |
