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The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department of the
state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
of the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
responsible for systems of
transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...
ation. It was first established in 1969.History of ODOT
/ref> It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway Commission, was created by an act of the
Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...
in 1913. It works closely with the five-member Oregon Transportation Commission (the modern name of the Highway Commission) in managing the state's transportation systems. The Oregon Transportation Commission, formerly the Oregon State Highway Commission, is a five-member governor-appointed
government agency A government agency or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government (bureaucracy) that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, s ...
that manages the
state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...
s and other transportation in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...
, in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation.


Inception

The first State Highway Commission was created on August 12, 1913, and was composed of
Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...
Oswald West Oswald West (May 20, 1873 – August 22, 1960) was an American politician, a Democrat, who served most notably as the 14th Governor of Oregon. Early life West was born in Guelph, Ontario, Canada but moved to Salem, Oregon with his family at t ...
, Secretary of State Ben W. Olcott and
Treasurer A treasurer is a person responsible for the financial operations of a government, business, or other organization. Government The treasury of a country is the department responsible for the country's economy, finance and revenue. The treasure ...
Thomas B. Kay. On January 12, 1915,
James Withycombe James Withycombe (March 21, 1854 – March 3, 1919) was an English-born American Republican politician who served as the 15th Governor of Oregon. Biography Withycombe was born to tenant farmers Thomas and Mary Ann Withycombe in Tavistock, E ...
became Governor and replaced Oswald West on the commission. The 1917
Oregon Legislative Assembly The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the State legislature (United States), state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper house, upper and lower chamber: the Oregon State Senate, Sena ...
redesigned the State Highway Commission, with citizens appointed to replace the elected officials. The new commissioners held their first meeting on March 6, and the commission was then known as the Oregon Highway Division. As Oregon's transportation needs started to grow, the division expanded and, in 1919, it employed their first State Bridge Engineer, Conde McCullough.


Events

By 1920, Oregon had of paved roads and of
plank road A plank road is a road composed of Plank (wood), wooden planks or wikt:puncheon#Noun, puncheon logs, as an efficient technology for traversing soft, marshy, or otherwise difficult ground. Plank roads have been built since antiquity, and were comm ...
s for a population of 783,389 and, by 1932, the work that had been started on the Oregon Coast Highway (also known as
U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a major north–south highway that traverses the states of California, Oregon, and Washington on the West Coast of the United States. It is part of the United States Numbered Highway Syst ...
) in 1914 was completed, except for five bridges, which meant greater responsibility for the division. This work was complete when the construction of the bridges over the Yaquina, Alsea, Siuslaw, and Umpqua rivers and
Coos Bay Coos Bay (Hanis language, Coos language: Atsixiis or Hanisich) is an estuary where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, the estuary is approximately 12 miles long and up to two miles wide. It is the largest estuary completely within Oregon sta ...
were completed, closing the last gaps in the highway. By 1940, the highway division was managing more than of state, market and country roads in Oregon, with nearly being hard-surfaced. In 2018, the city government of
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
and ODOT entered into an intergovernmental agreement in which the Portland city government takes over the cleanups of transient camps on ODOT right-of-way in select locations in Portland in exchange for payments from ODOT. In 2019, ODOT installed boulders at five locations in Portland to deter transient camps around the freeways. The installations have received support from neighbors while criticized by homeless advocacy groups.


Exploding whale incident

On November 12, 1970, the department was tasked with disposing of a dead
sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...
that washed ashore on the beach near
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
. The department exploded the dead whale using half a ton of dynamite to blast it off the beach. Pieces of dead whale went everywhere including the beach, bystanders, a parking lot and a park, severely damaging at least one car. ''
Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history '' ...
'' reports "The decision to publicly dynamite an enormous mammal has become one of Oregon's all-time most bizarre moments." This became known as the "
exploding whale There have been several cases of exploding whale Carrion, carcasses due to a buildup of gas in the decomposition process. This can occur when a whale Cetacean stranding, strands itself ashore. Actual explosives have also been used to assist in d ...
incident".


See also

* Glenn Jackson, an influential twenty-year member of the commission *
Oregon Department of Aviation The Oregon Department of Aviation (ODAV) is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon chiefly responsible for matters relating to the continuing development of aviation as part of the state's transportation system, and the safety of ...
* State highways in Oregon


References


External links


Exploding whale video on YouTube, linked from Willamette Week news article

Oregon Department of Transportation Museum online

Oregon Transportation Commission
{{authority control 1913 establishments in Oregon Motor vehicle registration agencies Transportation, Oregon Department of State departments of transportation of the United States Transportation in Oregon Government agencies established in 1913