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FHWA By Day

A Look at the History of the Federal Highway Administration
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November 2
1915 The Southern National Highway Association, sponsor of a highway from Washington, DC, to San Diego, CA, dispatches a group for the first official trip over its entire route. Engineer B. H. Burrell represents OPRRE on the 26-day trip.
1959 The first Joint BPR-State Right-of-Way Seminar is opened by C. W. Phillips, Chief of the Right-of-Way Division. All BPR region and division right-of-way personnel and utility engineers from Regions 4 and 5, as well as members of the Headquarters Right-of-Way Division attend. The goal is to achieve a better understanding of the many right-of-way acquisition problems being experienced.
1962 A 5-mile section of the Jones Falls Expressway, part of I-83 in Baltimore City and County, MD, opens, enabling motorists to drive nonstop from the center of Baltimore to Harrisburg, PA. BPR Division Engineer E. F. Gleason joins State and local officials who wield mammoth shears to snip the ribbon opening the highway. U.S. Representative George Fallon of Maryland, one of the sponsors of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, attends the ceremony.
Photo: Ribbon-cutting ceremonies on the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) in Baltimore, MD
Ribbon-cutting ceremonies on the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) in Baltimore, MD. Wielding the shears are, left to right, E.F. Gleason, BPR's Division Engineer; Mayor J. Harold Grady; Governor J. Millard Tawes (in light coat); and G. Victor Walters, State Highway Engineer for Baltimore. Holding the ribbon with his left hand is Maryland Comptroller Louis Goldstien. At the extreme left is U.S. Representative George Fallon (in light coat).
1971 Secretary of Transportation John Volpe announces approval of the first 34 economic growth centers (in 16 States) under a program created by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970. The program provides additional funds for improvement of FAP roads to serve selected growth centers.
"We hope this demonstration program will show that highway investments can help in checking or slowing down the present migration of people to larger and more congested areas."
The Honorable John A. Volpe
Secretary of Transportation
November 2, 1971
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