Counsel for the Situation: Shaping the Law to Realize America's Promise

Getting to Know the Department of Transportation

230 thirty-one Getting to Know the Department of Transportation Prepare the way for the people, build up, build up the highway. —Isaiah 62:10 Congress created the Department of Transportation on October 15, 1966, to bring together under one roof the disparate federal transportation programs and to develop a comprehensive, coordinated transportation policy. The department began operations on April 1, 1967, in President Johnson’s administration under the leadership of its first secretary, Alan S. Boyd. At the time of my arrival in June 1975, it consisted of seven agencies, most of which had direct access to Congress at least equal to that of the secretary of transportation. Superimposed on the seven modal administrations was the Office of the Secretary, whose job was to address cross-cutting issues, such as safety, transportation policy, international negotiations and agreements, the environment, transportation of hazardous materials, pipelines, research and development, public-private financing of transportation, and congressional, intergovernmental , and media relationships. These functions were managed by a number of assistant secretaries, deputy assistant secretaries, and office directors. highways The administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, Norbert T. Tiemann , had been governor of Nebraska. His effervescent personality and ability to dole out federal highway funds to states made him popular among members of Congress. I learned from Nobby Tiemann how to exercise executive power to achieve policy objectives in the political environment. Most of my work with the highway administration involved the interstate system. A little history is in order. On July 7, 1919 (exactly one year before my birth), a young U.S. Army captain, bored with peacetime duties, volunteered for a mission that would take him throughout the United States. The purpose of the trip was to evaluate the status of America’s roadways and determine 05-0488-1 part5.indd 230 9/9/10 8:26 PM Getting to Know the Department of Transportation / 231 the feasibility of federal support for a highway system that would serve both commerce and defense requirements. His evaluation confirmed the wretched conditions of U.S. roadways. The young captain prepared a task force report that recommended “a comprehensive system of national highways.”1 He went on to perform heroically for his country and was promoted to the rank of five-star general and chief of the Allied Forces in World War II. In 1952 he was elected president of the United States and served two terms. But the disturbing picture of the nation’s transportation infrastructure remained firmly etched in Dwight D. Eisenhower’s mind. As president, he was in a position to do something about it. He proposed, pushed through Congress, and signed into law the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956.2 Based on an extensive survey, with substantial state participation, a plan was developed to build an interstate highway system of exactly 39,425 miles. The federal government would provide 90 percent of the funding and the states a 10 percent match. The U.S. Highway Trust Fund was established, funded by a federal four-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline and additional motor carrier charges. Planned, funded, and constructed as a single nationwide integrated highway system, it remains today, at a cost of $129 billion, the largest public works project in the history of the world.3 By the time I took office, about 80 percent of the system was complete; however, we ran into roadblocks.The 1970 National Environmental Policy Act required a thorough analysis of the environmental impact of each new federally funded project. Most of the incomplete highway segments were in urban areas and caught up in lawsuits by environmental and community groups. This created glaring gaps in an integrated system. A prime example was the Overton Park segment of I-40 in Memphis, Tennessee, which became the subject of a seminal Supreme Court decision written by Justice Thurgood Marshall, ensuring that environmental impacts and alternatives would be carefully assessed before any highway project could proceed.4 In some cases, partially built highways stopped in the middle of an overpass, creating a bridge to nowhere. I made the completion of the interstate system a high priority. We would work through the environmental issues and decide on alternatives that would meet environmental objections and withstand judicial scrutiny. I personally conducted several public hearings and studied the environmental impact statements to impress on the Federal Highway Administration the importance of resolving these controversies expeditiously and in an environmentally sensitive way. We also issued and applied new department...