The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Federal Highway Administration (dot.gov) is part of the Department of Transportation supporting state and local governments in designing, constructing, and maintaining the national highway system.  This occurs through the Federal Aid Highway Program which is described in this Federal-Aid Highway Program (FAHP): In Brief (congress.gov) 2021 Congressional Research Service analysis.  FHWA’s historical origins begin with the 1893 establishment of the Office of Road Inquiry in the Dept. of Agriculture (USDA) and in 1905 this became the Office of Public Roads within USDA.  It would later become the Bureau of Public Roads in 1915 and the Public Roads Administration in 1939.  The   1921 Federal Aid  Highway Act P.L. 67-87  https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/llsl//llsl-c67/llsl-c67.pdf (see print page 212) established the principle of federal assistance for large-scale road construction and can be seen as the precursor to the massive bipartisan infrastructure funding bills Congress enacts every few years.

 FHWA was created in 1966 by the National Highway Safety Act P.L. 89-564 STATUTE-80-Pg731.pdf (govinfo.gov) and incorporated into the 1966 statute creating the Department of Transporation P.L. 89-670 670.pdf (house.gov).  This section of FHWA’s website Federal-aid Essentials for Local Public Agencies | FHWA (dot.gov) provides details on requirements for getting federal transportation such as the recent completion of I-69.

Indiana’s eleven-member congressional delegation is actively involved in transportation funding and oversight during the 118th Congress.  Senator Todd Young serves as the ranking member of the Surface Transportation, Maritime, and Ports Committee of the Senate Commerce Science and Transportation Committee.  Representatives Rudy Yakym and Andre Carson are members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee with Yakym serving on this committee’s Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

This post was submitted by Bert Chapman, Purdue University.