The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The department's fiscal year 2022–2026 strategic plan states that its mission is "to deliver the world's leading transportation system, serving the American people and economy through the safe, efficient, sustainable, and equitable movement of people and goods."

History

In 1965, Najeeb Halaby, was granted authority over aviation and railroads through the commerce clause of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration primarily provided funding for state and local projects, without significant influence over road construction and operation. Halaby emphasized the need for improved coordination and expressed frustration at the lack of an overall plan. "One looks in vain", he told Johnson, "for a point of responsibility below the President capable of taking an evenhanded, comprehensive, authoritarian approach to the development of transportation policies or even able to assure reasonable coordination and balance among the various transportation programs of the government." Johnson convinced Congress to act and The Department of Transportation was authorized in October 1966 and launched on 1 April 1967, with a mission to ensure that federal funds were effectively used to support the national transportation program. Johnson proclaimed upon signing the act: "Transportation has truly emerged as a significant part of our national life. As a basic force in our society, its progress must be accelerated so that the quality of our life can be improved."

Agencies

* Advanced Research Projects Agency–Infrastructure (ARPA-I) *

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

(FAA) *

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

(FHWA) *

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation that regulates the trucking industry in the United States. The primary mission of the FMCSA is to reduce crashes, injuries, an ...

(FMCSA) *

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroa ...

(FRA) *

Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...

(FTA) * Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (GLS) * Maritime Administration (MARAD) *

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation, focused on automobile safety regulations. NHTSA is charged with writing and enforcing Feder ...

(NHTSA) * Office of Inspector General (OIG) * Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST)，which includes the agencies below, among others： **

John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center The John A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center (colloquially, the Volpe Center) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is a center of transportation and logistics in the Research and Innovative Technology Administration of the United States Depa ...

Bureau of Transportation Statistics The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), part of the United States Department of Transportation, is a government office that compiles, analyzes, and publishes information on the nation's transportation systems across various modes; and str ...

(BTS) * Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA)

Former agencies

Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within and connecting to the United States. It was created ...

– transferred to

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

in 2003 *

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

– transferred to Department of Homeland Security in 2003 *

Surface Transportation Board The Surface Transportation Board (STB) of the United States is an independent federal agency that serves as an adjudicatory board. The board was created in 1996 following the abolition of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) and absorbed regula ...

(STB) – spun off as an independent federal agency in 2015 *

Research and Innovative Technology Administration The Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) was a unit of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). It was created in 2005 to advance transportation science, technology, and analysis, as well as improve the coordina ...

(RITA) - dissolved on December 4, 2015 via the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act on December 4, 2015

Budget

In 2012, the DOT awarded $742.5 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to 11 transit projects. The awardees include

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

projects. Other projects include both a

commuter rail Commuter rail or suburban rail is a Passenger train, passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Central business district, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter town ...

extension and a subway project in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, and a bus rapid transit system in

Springfield, Oregon Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Willamette Valley, Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield, OR MSA, Eugene-Springfield metropolitan statistical area. Separ ...

. The funds subsidize a

heavy rail Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleratio ...

project in

northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

, completing the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA ), commonly referred to as Metro, is a tri-jurisdictional public transit agency that operates transit services in the Washington metropolitan area. WMATA provides rapid transit servic ...

's Metro Silver Line to connect Washington, D.C., and the Washington Dulles International Airport (DOT had previously agreed to subsidize the Silver Line construction to

Reston, Virginia Reston is a census-designated place in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, and a principal city of both Northern Virginia and the Washington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Reston's population was 63,226. Founded in 1964, Rest ...

). President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's budget request for 2010 also included $1.83 billion in funding for major transit projects. More than $600 million went towards ten new or expanding transit projects. The budget provided additional funding for all of the projects currently receiving Recovery Act funding, except for the bus rapid transit project. It also continued funding for another 18 transit projects that are either currently under construction or soon will be. Following the same, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 delegated $600 million for Infrastructure Investments, referred to as Discretionary Grants. The Department of Transportation was authorized a budget for Fiscal Year 2016 of $75.1 billion. The budget authorization is broken down as follows: In 2021, President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The $1.2 trillion act included over $660 billion in funding for transportation-related infrastructure projects over the five-year period of fiscal years 2022–2026.

Related legislation

* 1806 – Cumberland Road * 1862 – Pacific Railway Act * 1887 – Interstate Commerce Act * 1916 – Adamson Railway Labor Act * 1935 – Motor Carrier Act * 1946 – Federal Airport Act, * 1950 – Federal Aid to Highway, * 1954 –

Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway () is a system of rivers, locks, canals and channels in Eastern Canada and Northern United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North America, as far inland ...

Act * 1956 – Federal-Aid to Highway/Interstate Highway Act, * 1957 – Airways Modernization Act, * 1958 – Transportation Act of 1958, * 1958 – Federal Aviation Act, * 1959 – Airport Construction Act, * 1964 – Urban Mass Transportation Act, * 1965 – Highway Beautification Act, * 1966 – Department of Transportation established, * 1970 – Urban Mass Transportation Act, * 1970 – Rail Passenger Service Act PL 91-518 * 1970 – Airport and Airway Development Act PL 91-258 * 1973 – Federal Aid Highway Act PL 93-87 * 1973 – Amtrak Improvement Act PL 93-146 * 1974 – National Mass Transportation Assistance Act PL 93-503 * 1976 – Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act PL 94-210 * 1976 – Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act PL 94-435 * 1978 – Airline Deregulation Act PL 95-504 * 1980 – Motor Carrier Act PL 96-296 * 1980 – Staggers Rail Act PL 96-448 * 1982 – Transportation Assistance Act PL 97-424 * 1982 – Bus Regulatory Reform Act PL 97-261 * 1984 – Commercial Space Launch Act PL 98-575 * 1987 – Surface Transportation Act PL 100-17 * 1991 – Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act PL 102-240 * 1998 – Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century PL 105-178 * 2000 – Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century PL 106-181 * 2001 – Aviation and Transportation Security Act (PL 107-71) * 2002 –

Homeland Security Act The Homeland Security Act (HSA) of 2002 () was introduced in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks and subsequent mailings of anthrax spores. The HSA was cosponsored by 118 members of Congress. The act passed the U.S. Senate by a vote of 9 ...

(PL 107-296) * 2005 – Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (PL 109-59) * 2012 – Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) PL 112-141 * 2015 – Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act) PL 114-94 * 2021 - Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act PL 117-58

Freedom of Information Act processing performance

In the latest Center for Effective Government analysis of 15 federal agencies which receive the most Freedom of Information Act FOIA requests, published in 2015 (using 2012 and 2013 data, the most recent years available), the Department of Transportation earned a D by scoring 65 out of a possible 100 points, i.e., did not earn a satisfactory overall grade.Making the Grade: Access to Information Scorecard 2015
. March 2015, p. 80, Center for Effective Government. Retrieved March 21, 2016.

References

External links

*
Department of Transportation
on

USAspending.gov USAspending.gov is a database of spending by the United States federal government. History Around the time of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006's passage, OMB Watch, a government watchdog group, was developing a ...

United States Department of Transportation
in the ''

Federal Register The ''Federal Register'' (FR or sometimes Fed. Reg.) is the government gazette, official journal of the federal government of the United States that contains government agency rules, proposed rules, and public notices. It is published every wee ...

'' {{navboxes , list = {{United States Department of Transportation {{United States federal executive departments {{Lyndon B. Johnson, state=collapsed {{US highway acts {{Authority control {{Portal bar, United States {{Include-USGov-DOT 1966 establishments in Washington, D.C. Transportation government agencies of the United States Government agencies established in 1966

Transportation 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 ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...