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U.S.
Department of Transportation
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A Chronology of Dates Significant in the Background, History and Development of the Department of TransportationBefore There Was a Department of Transportation | 1789-1893 | 1916-1949 | 1950's | 1960's | Establishment and
Organization of DOT August 7, 1789, Congress federalized existing
lighthouses built by the colonies and appropriated funds for lighthouses,
beacons, and buoys. August 4, 1790, President George Washington
signed into law a bill authorizing the construction on ten 50-foot, two-masted
boats--to guard the coast against smugglers. March 29, 1806, President Thomas Jefferson
signed into law the first federal highway program, the National Road,
which was to connect the new State of Ohio with the Eastern seaboard. April 12, 1808, Secretary
of the Treasury Albert Gallatin issued his Report On The Subject Of Public
Roads And Canals, the first, extraordinarily farsighted, official proposal
of any branch of the Federal Government dealing with the planning of national
transportation improvements. October 26, 1825, New York
Governor DeWitt Clinton officially opened the 83-lock Erie Canal, linking
the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, departing from Buffalo aboard
the Seneca Chief and arriving at New York harbor November 4. July 4, 1828, in Baltimore,
the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, Charles
Carroll of Carrollton, turned the first spade of dirt to dedicate the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. That same day, in Georgetown, Washington,
D.C., President John Quincy Adams helped to dedicate the Chesapeake &
Ohio Canal. July 1, 1862, President Abraham
Lincoln signed into law the Pacific Railway Act, subsidizing the construction
of the Transcontinental Railroad, which was finished at Promontory Point,
Utah, on May 10, 1869. January 12, 1874, Representative Laurin D.
Woodworth (R-OH) introduces the first post-Civil War legislation to establish
a federal bureau of transportation. October 11, 1883, in Chicago,
the General Time Convention, precursor to the American Railway Association,
adopted four Standard Time Zones, Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific,
for railroad service in the United States and Canada. February 4, 1887, President
Grover Cleveland signed into law the Interstate Commerce Act, which established
a five-man Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate rates and tariffs
on those railroads. The DOT Act transferred such diverse issues as Safety
and The Universal Time Act from the ICC to the Department. Nearly three
decades later, when President Clinton signed the ICC Termination Act of
1995 into law, vestigial elements of the Commission came to DOT with the
Surface Transportation Board. March 3, 1893, President Benjamin Harrison
signed into law the Agriculture Appropriations Act of 1894, $100,000 of
which will launch the Office of Road Inquiry, predecessor agency to the
Bureau of Public Roads and Federal Highway Administration. January 20, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson
signed into law legislation merging the Revenue Cutter Service and the
Life-Saving Service into the United States Coast Guard. July 11, 1916, Wilson signed
into law the Federal-aid Road Act, launching the Federal-aid highway program,
with grants to the states for the construction of roads used to deliver
the mail. March 19, 1918, Wilson signed
the first Daylight Saving time legislation into law, a measure that also
formally acknowledged the Standard Time Zones adopted by the 1883 General
Time Convention July 7, 1919, Colonel Dwight David Eisenhower
joined the First Army’s transcontinental truck convoy from the “Zero
Milestone” on the Ellipse just south of the White House, along the
Lincoln Highway to San Francisco. The trek lasted just shy of two months,
averaging fifty-eight miles per day—and would shape Ike’s thinking
about the need for Interstate highways. November 9, 1921, President Warren Gamaliel
Harding signed into law the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1921, which established
the basic federalist, cooperative arrangement for the Federal Highway
Program for the remainder of the twentieth century. December15-16, 1924, Secretary
of Commerce Herbert Clark Hoover hosted the first-ever National Conference
on Street and Highway Safety, bringing together auto manufacturers, insurance
companies, and civil engineers to harness the carnage resulting from car
crashes-23,000 had perished in 1923. May 20, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge signed
into law the Air Commerce Act, which placed the administration of commercial
aeronautics under the Department of Commerce. June 16, 1933, President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Emergency Railroad Transportation
Act. In addition to revising the ratemaking powers of the ICC, the Act
created the Office of Federal Coordinator of Transportation, a post to
which Joseph B. Eastman was appointed, and a precursor of the wartime
Office of Defense Transportation. Although Eastman himself proved largely
ineffectual, the Federal Coordinator's Office conducted exceedingly insightful
studies of the nation's transportation needs. August 8, 1935, Roosevelt
signed into law the Interstate Commerce Act of 1935, which provided, among
other things, authorization for the ICC Section on Motor Carrier Safety,
the bureaucratic progenitor of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
June 26, 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
signed into law the Merchant Marine Act of 1936, which established the
U.S. Maritime Commission, a forerunner of the Maritime Administration,
and called for direct subsidies covering differentials in both construction
and operations. January 12, 1937, Roosevelt submitted to Congress
the Report of the President’s Committee on Administrative Management.
Known the Brownlow Report (for Chairman Louis Brownlow), it was the first
significant call for fundamental reorganization of the Executive Branch. June 23, 1938, Roosevelt signed into law the
Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, creating the Civil Aeronautics Authority,
predecessor to the Civil Aeronautics Administration and the Federal Aviation
Agency. December 18, 1941, less than
two weeks after Pearl Harbor, FDR once again summoned Eastman to the Nation's
capital, this time to head the Office of Defense Transportation.
July 7, 1947, Congress passed, and President
Harry S Truman signed into law legislation establishing the Commission
on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government (the First Hoover
Commission), whose work created the climate for the establishment of a
Cabinet-level Department of Transportation. February 5, 1949, the First Hoover Commission
Report called for coordination of transportation activities, under the
auspices of the Commerce Department. Truman would respond by putting the
office of Under Secretary for Transportation in the Department of Commerce. November 20, 1950, Commerce
Department Order 128 established the Office of Transportation and the
Transportation Council. March 30, 1951, Commerce Department Order 128,
as amended, abolished the Office of Transportation and established the
Under Secretary for Transportation, with supervisory responsibility over
transportation functions exercised by various departmental components. May 13, 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower
signed into law the Wiley-Dondero Act, which created the Saint Lawrence
Seaway Development Corporation, a wholly owned government corporation,
to construct, operate and maintain that part of the Saint Lawrence Seaway
between Montreal and Lake Erie, within the territorial limits of the United
States. June 29, 1956, Eisenhower signed into law the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 and the Highway Revenue Act of 1956, authorizing
the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, and creating the
Federal Highway Trust Fund. August 23, 1958, Eisenhower signed into law
the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, establishing the Federal Aviation Agency
(Administration, after the DOT Act passed), to take effect on January
1, 1959. In addition, the bill freed the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB)
from its administrative connections with the Department of Commerce. June 26-27, 1959, the Saint Lawrence Seaway
formally opened, having opened for business on April 25. On June 26, Eisenhower
and Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the St. Lawrence Seaway; Queen
Elizabeth and Vice-President Richard M. Nixon attended dedication ceremonies
at Massena, New York, the following day. July 14, 1960, Eisenhower
signed the National Driver Register Act into law. May 1, 1961, Antulio Ramirez
Ortiz perpetrated the first hijacking of a commercial airliner to Cuba.
June 30, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signed
into law the Housing Act of 1961, which acknowledged, for the first time,
a federal role in mass transportation by establishing the Office of Transportation
within the Housing and House Finance Agency. July 9, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed
into law the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, a three-year program
of federal matching grants to help the states and localities provide adequate
mass transportation for the nation's cities, a bill that the House Rules
Committee had bottled up for better than a year. Responsibility for these
functions rested with the Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance
Agency, later shifted to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development,
and, in turn, the Administrator of the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. October 19, 1964, a task force on transportation
organization, headed by George W. Hilton and the Bureau of the Budget's
Gordon Murray, advised Johnson to establish a Department of Transportation. July 1, 1965, during the swearing-in of General
William F. McKee as Halaby's successor at the Federal Aviation Agency,
Johnson announced that the SST project was moving into the next stage,
an 18-month detailed design phase. August 12, 1965, White House Special Assistant
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., asked the Commerce Department’s Under Secretary
for Transportation, Alan S. Boyd, to chair a task force to look into combining
government responsibilities for transportation problems by reorganizing
those agencies that dealt with them. August 25, 1965, Johnson ordered across-the-board
use of Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara's Planning, Programming, and
Budgeting System throughout the Cabinet-level Departments and other Executive
Branch agencies. September 8, 1965, Johnson signed into law
a bill authorizing 25-mile, $431 million rapid transit system for the
nation’s capital, capable of future expansion. September 30, 1965, Johnson signed into law
the High-speed Ground Transportation Act, marking the first time that
the Federal Government sought to promote high-speed ground transportation January 12, 1966, in his State of the Union
Address, Johnson announced his intention to seek the establishment of
the Department of Transportation. January 14, 1966, the White House authorized
the Zwick Task Force to prepare for transmittal to Congress the Administration
bill that would establish a Cabinet-level Department of Transportation.
They finished ten days later. March 2, 1966, proclaiming, "In a nation
that spans a continent, transportation is the web of union,” Johnson
sent Congress a bill, which recommended that the United States reorganize
its entire transportation policymaking apparatus and establish a Cabinet-level
Department of Transportation. That same day, Representative Chet Holifield
(D-CA) and Senator Warren G. Magnuson (D-WA) introduced that measure in
the House and Senate, H.R. 13200 and S. 3010 respectively. March 22, 1966, Senator Abraham Ribicoff (D-CT)
opened (continuing) hearings of the Subcommittee on Executive Reorganization,
of the Senate Committee on Government Operations, on the Federal Role
in Traffic Safety. These hearings were to look into charges that General
Motors had conducted investigations of lawyer Ralph Nader, author of Unsafe
at Any Speed (and a committee staffer) to discredit him and to undermine
his charges that the American automobile industry had sacrifice6d safety
for style and built-in obsolescence. GM had, and its president, John P,
Roche apologized to Nader. The Ribicoff hearings helped galvanize support
for the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act and the Highway
Safety Act, as well as the DOT Act. March 29, 1966, the Senate Committee on Government
Operations opened hearings on the DOT Act. April 6, 1966, the Executive and Legislative
Reorganization Subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations
opened hearings on the DOT Act. April 13, 1966, Johnson signed into law the
Uniform Time Act. The DOT Enabling Act charged the Secretary of Transportation
with the administration of this act. In turn, he delegated this authority
to the Department's General Counsel. October 15, 1966, President Lyndon Johnson
signed into law Public Law 89-670, establishing the Department of Transportation. October 15, 1966, Johnson signed into law the
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, which established both policy
guidance and the machinery for intensified efforts at historic preservation,
at the federal level. It established the Advisory Council on Historic
Preservation, with the Secretary of Transportation a member of that body. October 18, 1966, Johnson commissioned the
Interagency Department of Transportation Task Force, under the leadership
of the Assistant Commandant of the Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Paul E. Trimble,
to put flesh and blood on the departmental skeleton--to provide for the
Department’s establishment with a minimum of disruption. November 6, 1966, Johnson signed into law legislation
creating the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority. November 8, 1966, declaring that he would be
his “strong right arm on all transportation matters,” Johnson
nominated the Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation, Alan S.
Boyd, to become the nation’s first Secretary of Transportation. November 9, 1966, the National Traffic Safety
Bureau and the National Highway Safety Bureau commenced operations in
the Department of Commerce, under the direction of Dr. William J. Haddon,
Jr. They would move to DOT on April 1, 1967, as a part of the Federal
Highway Administration. December 31, 1966, the FAA declared the Boeing
Company and the General Electric Company winners of the SST development
program competitive design and study phase January 6, 1967, Secretary of Commerce John
T. Connor appointed the first National Motor Vehicle Advisory Council. January 31, 1967, the Department issued the
first twenty federal motor vehicle safety standards. February 13, 1967, the Bureau of Public Roads
announced its Traffic Operations Program to Increase Capacity and Safety
(TOPICS). This will focus attention on and show the possibilities for
improving urban transportation efficiency through operational improvements
on major urban arterials. March 16, 1967, the Acting Secretary of Commerce,
Alexander B. Trowbridge, appointed the first National Highway Safety Advisory
Committee. March 30, 1967, Johnson signed Executive Order
11340, prescribing April 1 as the date on which the Department of Transportation
would take effect, officially bringing the new department into operation. Department of Transportation Officially Operational April 1, 1967, the new cabinet-level Department
of Transportation officially opened for business. Celebrating the "Pageant
of Transportation," dignitaries from DOT and the Smithsonian Institution,
as well as representatives from the transportation industry and the public,
gathered on the Mall for festivities to usher in the new department. April 4, 1967, Boyd created an Office of Noise
Abatement within OST to begin a concerted effort to abate aircraft noise. April 29, 1967, Johnson announced that the
U.S. SST development program would proceed into the prototype development
phase. May 27, 1967, Boyd established and appointed
members of a Contract Appeals Board. June 3, 1967, Boyd announced that under the
Assistant Secretary for Policy Development, he was establishing "a
central point for the development of a new urban transportation program”
that will consider “the total needs of the city." June 6, 1967, Executive Order 11357 consolidated
the National Traffic Safety Agency and the National Highway Safety Agency
into a single organization, the National Highway Safety Bureau, to set
up a comprehensive safety program that would include motor vehicles, their
operators, and the highways on which they travel. June 27, 1967, to carry out the mandate of
the Highway Safety Act, the Department issued the first thirteen national
highway standards. July 6, 1967, DOT established its Equal Opportunity
Program, affecting department employment practices, services rendered
to the public, and the employment practices of contractors and subcontractors. September 1, 1967, the White House transferred
the interagency aircraft noise abatement program from the Office of Science
and Technology to the Office of the Secretary of Transportation. December 15, 1967, the collapse of the Silver
Bridge, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio,
killed 46 and led to the establishment of national bridge inspection standards
under the Federal-aid Highway Act of 1968, December 18, 1967, Boyd announced the formation
of the Transportation Facilitation Committee, a group of government and
transportation industry officials whose rationale is to simplify the movement
of people and goods. January 4, 1968, the New York Metropolitan
Controllers Association's (MCA) acting chairman, Michael J. Rock, brought
attorney F. Lee Bailey to a meeting of MCA delegates, leading to the founding
of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO). January 15, 1968, the United States Supreme
Court approved the merger of the Pennsylvania and New York Central Railroads. February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania and New
York Central Railroads joined forces to launch the Penn Central Transportation
Company. February 21, 1968, a sustained wave of hijacking
U.S. air carriers began when a fugitive aboard a Delta Air Lines DC-8
forced the pilot to divert to Havana, Cuba. During the next five months,
skyjackers had diverted four additional U.S. airliners to the same destination. March 12, 1968, saying it “will assure
that in the future, visitors to Washington will be given a proper welcome,”
Johnson signed into law the National Visitor Center Facilities Act of
1968, establishing a National Visitor Center at Washington, D.C.’s
Union Station. April 1, 1968, hoisted for the first time,
the DOT flag featured a white triskelion symbolizing motion and progress
set against a red background. July 1, 1968, under the President's Reorganization
Plan 2, Johnson transferred most of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development's mass transportation capabilities to DOT, establishing the
Urban Mass Transportation Administration there. July 3, 1968, PATCO proclaimed `Operation Air
Safety,' a strategy by which controllers would maintain air safety by
strictly observing the existing separation standards. July 19, 1968, while air controllers were carrying
out ‘Operation Air Safety’, faulty radar helped to delay two-thirds
of all departures from New York’s airports by several hours, and
to divert landings to as far away as Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. July 21, 1968, Johnson signed into law the
Jet Noise Abatement Act. August 12, 1968, Johnson signed into law the
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, establishing a system under which the
Department provided grants-in-aid to states enforcing either federal standards
or their own, whichever is more stringent. August 12, 1968, Johnson signed into law the
Architectural Barriers Act, which called for barrier-free design of certain
buildings financed with federal funds. August 23, 1968, Johnson signed into law the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1968. Where the Road Lobby sought to roll back
Section 4(f) of the DOT Act, it put in place standards anticipating the
Uniform Act of 1970 to recompense those whose property federal highway
projects had displaced. While the bill included Congressional heavy-handedness
regarding express highway construction in and around the District of Columbia,
it likewise embraced legislative efforts to help cities explore alternatives
on existing street systems, such as synchronized traffic signals, to massive
highway construction projects. September 10, 1968, to implement the just-passed
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, Boyd announced the establishment of the
Office of Pipeline Safety. December 14, 1968, an Office of Civil Rights
was established in the Office of the Secretary. January 15, 1969, the Civil Service Commission
ruled that PATCO was an employee organization, not a professional society,
because it had sought and obtained a dues-withholding agreement. January 16, 1969, Metroliner service commenced
between Washington, D.C., and New York City. January 22, 1969, former Massachusetts governor
John Anthony Volpe took the oath of office as the nation's second Secretary
of Transportation. January 28, 1969, a massive oil spill of the
coast of Santa Barbara, California, focused the public's attention on
oil pollution and environmental cleanup. February 7, 1969, President Richard M. Nixon
instructed Volpe to appoint an eleven-man special committee, chaired by
Under Secretary James M. Beggs, to examine every feature of the SST program. February 15, 1969, under Nixon’s Vietnamization
plan, the Coast Guard began to turn over cutters to the South Vietnamese
Navy. March 21, 1969, in the PATCO newsletter, F.
Lee Bailey recommended that controllers disobey the orders of a superior
if they thought they were endangering air traffic safety. March 27, 1969, Nixon issued a directive that
established standard federal regions, with common boundaries and common
headquarters locations. March 28, 1969, Volpe called for the establishment
of a centralized Departmental library. Therefore, DOT formed the Transportation
Department Library administratively in July, by consolidating the headquarters
libraries of the Bureau of Public Roads, the United States Coast Guard,
and the Federal Aviation Administration. April 8, 1969, Turbotrain service commenced
between New York City and Boston. April 24, 1969, Volpe established a Departmental
Office of Civil Rights, with counterpart offices established in the operating
administrations on May 8. June 18, 19, and 20, 1969, five hundred fifteen
air traffic controllers--members of PATCO–claimed to be ill. Tantamount
to a strike, this sickness resulted in significant service interruptions
in Denver, Oakland, Kansas City, Chicago, and New York City. July 9, 1969, Volpe announced the Department’s
refusal to grant federal funds for New Orleans’ Vieux Carré
Riverfront Expressway because that highway would impair the historical
quality of the French Quarter. July 21, 1969, Volpe announced that John J.
Corson would head a blue ribbon panel that would examine the career needs
and other personnel problems of air traffic controllers, and make recommendations
to address them. September 10, 1969, Volpe and Secretary of
the Interior Walter Hickel met with Florida's Governor Claude Kirk to
announce environmental concerns relating to the proposal to build the
Miami Jetport on a 39-square-mile site in the ecotone between Big Cyprus
Swamp and the Everglades National Park. After environmental studies, Dade
County officials agreed to seek another site. September 23, 1969, Nixon announced his commitment
to construction of the SST prototype, contending that the project was
essential to maintaining U.S. leadership in world air transport. October 13, 1969, PATCO sought exclusive recognition
as a labor organization for air traffic controllers. November 5, 1969, Volpe approved, with qualifications,
a proposal by the Tennessee Department of Transportation to build a segment
of Interstate 40 through Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee. December 5, 1969, following Nixon's nomination
of Douglas Toms as Director of the National Highway Safety Bureau, Volpe
placed most of the functions of the Bureau directly under the Office of
the Secretary. December 9, 1969, Volpe attended groundbreaking
for Washington, D.C.'s Metrorail rapid transit system. January 1, 1970, Nixon signed into law the
National Environmental Policy Act, which created the President's Council
on Environmental Quality and required federal agencies to prepare environmental
impact statements and public hearings on their proposed actions. January 29, 1970, the Corson Committee criticized
the Federal Aviation Administration’s lack of competent internal
communication, and management's failure to sanction employee organizations. March 18, 1970, Volpe announced that the Department
was considering a rule that would require all motor vehicles to have some
form of passive restraint--air bags, motorized seat belts, cushioned interiors,
or some combination of these. March 22, 1970, a separate National Highway
Safety Bureau established by administrative act; the NHSB later became
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. March 25, 1970, in a PATCO-engineered sickout,
approximately 1,000 controllers at key facilities in New York City, Cleveland,
Chicago, Kansas City, Denver, and Oakland, called in sick or failed to
report to work. April 2, 1970, PATCO ended its work stoppage,
and sent telegrams to all national, regional, and local officials advising
its members to go back to work. April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day, helped
to launch the environmental movement and to seal the SST’s fate. May 21, 1970, Nixon signed into law the Airport
and Airway Development Act of 1970 and the Airport and Airway Revenue
Act of 1970. This legislation established a trust fund and airline ticket
taxes to assure $11 billion for airports and airways over the next five
years. The measure also directed the Secretary of Transportation to draw
up a national transportation policy and submit it to Congress within a
year. June 21, 1970, the Penn Central Transportation
Company collapsed and filed for reorganization under bankruptcy law. July 1, 1970, the Nixon Administration transferred
the Transportation Systems Center (formerly, the Electronic Research Center)
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
to DOT. August 10, 1970, with the NHSB having been
separated from the Federal Highway Administration, the FHWA was itself
reorganized, with the once-dominant Bureau of Public Roads functionally
absorbed by FHWA. Rather than maintain a bureau structure, the FHWA was
divided into six component parts, each headed by an Associate Administrator. September 6, 1970, two members of Dr. George
Habash’s Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine commandeered
a Pan Am 747 in Israel, and had it flown to Cairo, where they evacuated
the passengers and blew it up. In coordinated moves, PFLP terrorists seized
three other airliners and flew them to their so-called Revolution Airstrip
in the Jordanian desert, taking the passengers hostage and touching off
a civil war in Jordan. September 11, 1970, to provide for the protection
of persons and property aboard American air carrier aircraft, Nixon designated
the Department of Transportation to lead the government's anti-hijacking
program. September 20, 1970, Volpe established the Office
of Civil Aviation Security under the command of retired Air Force Lieutenant
General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr. October 13, 1970, Nixon signed into law the
Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970, which extended DOT’s role in
fostering the safe operation of railroads, gave the Secretary authority
over previously excluded areas such as track maintenance and equipment
standards, and made it possible for the Federal Railroad Administration
to play a safety role more comparable to the FAA and the Coast Guard. October 15, 1970, Nixon signed into law the
Urban Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1970, a $10 billion, 12-year
program to upgrade mass transit systems. October 21, 1970, Nixon signed into law the
American Merchant Marine Bill, a rider to which forgave interest due on
the debt of the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, which by
that time had accrued to $22.4 million. October 30, 1970, Congress passed the National
Railroad Passenger Service Act, creating a semipublic corporation, Amtrak
(American Travel and Track), to improve the quality of service and to
satisfy the nation's intercity passenger transportation needs. November 23, 1970, near Gay Head, Martha's
Vineyard, Massachusetts, and in American waters, the Coast Guard Cutter
VIGILANT moored alongside the Soviet trawler, SOVIETSKAYA LITVA. The Russian
vessel’s radio operator, Simas Kudirka, jumped to the American cutter;
subsequently, KGB agents forcibly removed him to the Soviet trawler. November 30, 1970, Volpe announced that, beginning
May 1, 1971, Amtrak, which policymakers had initially called Railpax,
would begin operations, taking over nearly all intercity passenger services. December 3, 1970, the SST program suffered
a reverse when the Senate adopted an amendment to delete from the Department
of Transportation fiscal 1971 appropriations bill an administration request
for $290 million to continue SST prototype development. December 31, 1970, Nixon signed into law the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1970, which tangibly increased highway funding. December 31, 1970, the National Highway Safety
Act of 1970 codified the separation of the Highway Safety Bureau from
the Federal Highway Administration and its establishment as a discrete
DOT operating administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. January 2, 1971, passage of the Uniform Relocation
Assistance and Real Properties Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 moved
the federal taking of property for transportation projects closer toward
an equitable resolution. January 8, 1971, Nixon signed into law the
Emergency Rail Services Act of 1970, in which Congress authorized up to
$125 million in Federal loan guarantees for the bankrupt Penn Central
Railroad. February 23, 1971, Volpe established the Transportation
Safety Institute at the FAA's Aeronautical Center, in Oklahoma City. Although
initially operated by the FAA, this school provided training for the investigation
of accidents and incidents in all modes of transportation, and in related
regulatory matters. March 3, 1971, in Citizens to Preserve Overton
Park, Inc. v. Volpe, in a decision written by Justice Thurgood Marshall,
the Supreme Court ordered the Department to reconsider its determination
to build I-40 through Overton Park in Memphis, Tennessee. This provided
the basis for interpreting the “prudent and feasible alternative”
requirements of section 4(f) of the DOT Enabling Act, which short of an
outright ban, was one of the toughest tests imposed in environmental law. March 18 and 24, 1971, environmental concerns
surrounding the supersonic transport persuaded Congress to stop funding
for the SST. In May, the House sought to revive the program by amending
a DOT supplemental bill to include $85.3 million for SST development;
however, the Senate rebuffed the move. March 25, 1971, Nixon sent Congress a blueprint
to reorganize the executive branch, in which he employed four “supersecretaries”
who would have the power to set policy and to resolve interdepartmental
squabbles. DOT would have been part of two new Departments: Economic Affairs--and
Community Development. April 27, 1971, Henry Ford II and Lee Iacocca
conferred with Nixon and John D. Ehrlichman, claiming that compliance
with the new passive restraint standards, which Volpe had announced in
March, was beyond the industry's technical capacity, within the specified
deadline. May 1, 1971, Amtrak took over nearly all-interurban
passenger train service. It was to provide service by 182 trains to more
than 300 cities. May 25, 1971, Nixon signed a supplemental appropriations
bill, which, among other things, killed the U.S. SST program, allowing
phase-out funds for the project’s prime contractors. August 4, 1971, Nixon signed the Vessel Bridge-to-Bridge
Radiotelephone Act into law, which required that a set classification
of ships have radiotelephones so they could communicate with nearby ships
and shore installations. August 10, 1971, Nixon signed into law the
Appropriations Bill for the Department of Transportation, which among
other things contained $174 million for the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority for the District of Columbia’s rapid rail transit
system (METRO). August 11, 1971, Nixon signed into law the
Federal Boating Safety Act of 1971, providing the Coast Guard the authority
to establish minimum safety construction standards for boats and associated
equipment. September 8, 1971, Volpe transmitted to Congress
a Statement on National Transportation Policy. September 29, 1971, DOT granted a two-year
delay for the installation of passive restraints in new passenger cars. November 27, 1971, Nixon signed into law legislation
amending the Airport and Airway Development Act of 1970 to clarify further
the intent of Congress as to its priorities for airway revitalization
and airport development. December 21, 1971, Volpe announced that the
U. S. Coast Guard had ended its participation in the Vietnam War, with
the transfer of two of its 311-foot, high-endurance cutters, the CASTLE
ROCK and the COOK INLET, to the South Vietnamese navy. January 5, 1972, pursuant to the Supreme Court's
March 1971 Overton Park decision, U.S. District Judge Bailey Brown remanded
the project to Secretary Volpe for a new decision on the location of Interstate
40 in Memphis, Tennessee. March 9, 1972, DOT Order 1100.41A established
the Transportation Safety Institute. March 22, 1972, Nixon signed into law the International
Air Rates Act, which amended the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to authorize
the CAB to end unreasonable or discriminatory rates or practices by air
carriers in foreign air transportation. May 16, 1972, Nixon signed into law the Air
Traffic Controllers Career Program Act. The act, an outgrowth of a Corson
Committee recommendation, authorized controllers to retire after twenty-five
years of active duty, or at age fifty if they had twenty years of active
service. May 27-June 4, 1972, Dulles International Airport
played host to the United States International Transportation Exposition,
popularly called TRANSPO '72, the world's first multimodal transportation
exposition. August 3, 1972, Volpe transmitted to Congress
the 1972 National Transportation Report: Present Status--Future Alternatives. October 20, 1972, Nixon signed into law the
Motor Vehicle Information and Cost Savings Act, to promote safe automobiles
and to make them less costly to repair. Implementation of this legislation,
which required such things as stronger auto bumpers, became part of the
mission of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. December 6, 1972, Nixon selected Claude Brinegar
of the Union Oil Company to succeed Volpe as Secretary. January 5, 1973, responding to hijacking threats,
the FAA initiates universal preboarding electronic screening of passengers
and inspection of their carry-on luggage. January 5, 1973, Nixon announces his intention
to set up a sort of super cabinet. The Department of Transportation would
have come under the purview of `supersecretary' James T. Lynn, the Secretary-designate
at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. February 2, 1973, Dr. Claude Stout Brinegar
took the oath of office as the nation's third Secretary of Transportation. February 9, 1973, Congress directed Brinegar
to provide, within forty-five days, "a full and comprehensive plan
for the preservation of essential transportation services in the Northeast
section of the Nation." February 15, 1973, Fidel Castro reached a formal
five-year accord with the United States, the first treaty of any kind
since the revolution, to extradite or prosecute hijackers who ordered
planes to fly to Cuba. March 26, 1973, Brinegar responded to Congress’s
February 9 mandate with a plan, Northeastern Railroad Problem: A Report
to the Congress. May 9, 1973, for his role in the Watergate-related
burglary of the offices of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, Egil Krogh,
Jr., resigned as Under Secretary of Transportation. He later went to prison,
the first Watergate defendant to do so. May 10, 1973, the CAB published the first rule
regulating smoking on aircraft for reasons of consumer comfort and protection. June 3, 1973, the Soviet supersonic TU-144
crashed at the Paris air show, dealing a severe blow to the Soviet SST
program. June 29, 1973, the Penn Central trustees informed
the court that reorganization of that company was impossible. July 16, 1973, in public testimony before the
Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Abuses, FAA Administrator
Alexander Butterfield revealed the existence of a secret White House taping
system; that revelation helped to spell out Nixon’s role in the Watergate
cover-up. August 13, 1973, Nixon signed into law the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, which included optional application of
Highway Trust Funds for urban mass transit projects. September 20, 1973, a Concorde prototype, in
its first visit to the United States, landed at the Dallas-Ft. Worth International
Airport. September 26, 1973, Nixon signed into law,
after two earlier pocket vetoes, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section
504 of which mandated nondiscrimination by reason of handicap by recipients
of federal funds. Section 502 established the Architectural and Transportation
Barriers Compliance Board (subsequently called the Access Board), which
had the power to enforce the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968. October 17, 1973, the Arab-dominated Organization
of Petroleum Exporting Countries united to impose an oil embargo on the
United States, Western Europe, and Japan that remained in effect until
March 18, 1974. November 3, 1973, Nixon signed into law the
Amtrak Improvement Act of 1973, which strengthened Amtrak’s authority
to manage the Nation’s rail passenger system. November 12, 1973, in response to the oil shortage,
the Department established the Office of Transportation Energy Policy
to coordinate its overall conservation and allocation activities. November 16, 1973, Nixon signed into law the
Alaskan Pipeline Act, which authorized the construction of a pipeline
that would ultimately carry up to two million barrels of crude oil per
day from Alaska’s North Slope to the ice-free port of Valdez. November 25, 1973, Nixon called for a ban on
Sunday gasoline sales. January 2, 1974, Nixon signed into law the
Shoup-Adams bill, the Regional Rail Reorganization Act of 1973, which
established a semipublic corporation, the Consolidated Rail Corporation
(Conrail), maintaining it with subsidies and loan guarantees. January 2, 1974, Nixon signed into law the
Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, which mandated the 55-mph national
maximum speed limit, to take effect in sixty days. The act required that
the Department approve no highway projects for states having a maximum
speed limit greater than 55 mph. January 3, 1974, Brinegar announced the inauguration
of a nationwide effort to promote carpooling. January 4, 1974, Nixon signed into law the
Emergency Daylight Saving Time Energy Act of 1973, establishing a trial,
peacetime, year-round daylight savings time. January 6, 1974, implementing the Emergency
Daylight Saving Time Energy Act, clocks were set ahead for a fifteen-month
period through April 27, 1975. January 13, 1974, Dallas-Fort Worth Airport
officially opened for commercial flight. February 1, 1974, Brinegar, Treasury Secretary
George Schultz, and ICC Chairman George Stafford filed articles of incorporation
for the United States Railway Association in the District of Columbia. March 5, 1974, more than a year after he had
taken office, Brinegar delivered his Principles of National Transportation
Policy in testimony before the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation
of the House of Representatives. April 5, 1974, all states had adopted the 55-mph
speed limit. July 12, 1974, Nixon signed into law the Congressional
Budget and Impoundment Act of 1974, which among other things, created
the House and Senate Budget Committees, as well as the Congressional Budget
Office, and shifted the start of the fiscal year from July 1 to October
1 (beginning fiscal year 1977). August 5, 1974, Nixon signed into law the Anti-Hijacking
Act of 1974. August 9, 1974, Nixon resigned as President;
Vice President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., succeeded him. September 17, 1974, President Ford proposed
a seven-point Action Plan for Improved Profitability in International
Air Carrier Operations, including a "Fly U.S. Flag Airlines"
program to encourage Americans to fly American international flights,
in response to problems that faced American international air carriers
caused by the OPEC embargo and subsequent fuel price increases. October 25, 1974, the Consolidated Rail Corporation
(Conrail) was incorporated in Delaware. October 27, 1974, Ford signed into law the
Motor Vehicle and School Bus Safety Amendments of 1974, which included
language that revoked requirements for a mandatory seat belt-ignition
interlock system. November 26, 1974, Ford signed into law the
National Mass Transportation Assistance Act of 1974, authorizing $11.9
billion over a six-year span for capital and operating expenses of the
nation’s mass transit systems. It was the first time federal Congress
had authorized funds for mass transit operating subsidies. December 13, 1974, the Department and the Advertising
Council, Inc., launched a public service announcement campaign to promote
carpooling, "Double Up, America. Two can ride cheaper than one." December 18, 1974, Brinegar announced his resignation
as DOT Secretary, effective February 1, 1975. January 3, 1975, Ford signed into law the International
Air Transportation Fair Competitive Practices Act. January 4, 1975, Ford signed into law the Deepwater
Port Act of 1974, authorizing the Secretary to issue licenses for the
construction and operation of deepwater ports, beyond the three-mile territorial
limit of the United States, to accommodate the new super oil tankers. January 4, 1975, Ford signed into law the Transportation
Safety Act of 1974, which among other things, made the National Transportation
Safety Board an independent agency, and authorized the Secretary to regulate
the transportation of all hazardous materials and to impose both civil
and criminal penalties for violations of those regulations. January 4, 1975, Ford signed into law the Federal-Aid
Highway Amendments of 1974, which among other things, established the
55-mph national speed limit on a permanent basis. April 1, 1975, the National Transportation
Safety Board became a completely independent agency. July 1, 1975, Coleman established the Materials
Transportation Bureau within OST to coordinate DOT's increasing operational
responsibilities concerning pipeline safety and the safe shipment of hazardous
materials. August 1, 1975, Coleman rejected proposed 6-to-8-lane
Interstate 66 between the Beltway and the District of Columbia, but left
the door open to a narrower limited-use roadway. September 17, 1975, Coleman released the Statement
on National Transportation Policy by the Secretary of Transportation,
the first goals-oriented statement issued by a Secretary since the Department’s
inception. December 22, 1975, Ford signed into law the
omnibus Energy Policy and Conservation Act, which, among other things,
mandated that automakers meet corporate average fuel economy (CAFÉ)
standards. February 4, 1976, deciding an issue that had rekindled America's own
SST debate, Coleman permitted, for a 16-month demonstration period, a
limited number of Concorde supersonic flights between Europe and Dulles
Airport. March 27, 1976, Washington D.C.’s Metrorail
celebrated its opening day. April 1, 1976, Conrail began operations. April 13, 1976, Ford signed into law the Magnuson-Stevens
Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, which extended the U.S. economic
exclusive zone from twelve to 200 miles off the coast, greatly expanding
the Coast Guard’s deepwater duties. May 5, 1976, Ford signed the Federal-aid Highway
Act of 1976 into law, which established the Interstate "3R program"
for resurfacing, restoring, and rehabilitating Interstate highways. A
provision of this law created the National Transportation Policy Study
Commission, which was to develop transportation policies to the year 2000.
The act also established a "Transition Quarter," to account
for the change in the start of the fiscal year–from July 1 to October
1. May 24, 1976, following a 3-hour 35-minute
flight from London, the first Concorde supersonic commercial airliner
landed at Dulles Airport. The French Concorde arrived from Paris approximately
two minutes later. May 30-Septmber 6, 1976, seven DOT operating
administrations joined fifteen other Federal agencies and a dozen industrial
exhibitors to offer a glimpe of “Third Century America,” the
theme of the U. S. Bicentennial Exposition of Science and Technology,
at the Kennedy Space Center. June 28, 1976, the first women admitted to
the U. S. Coast Guard Acadmy reported for duty. July 4, 1976, the nation celebrated the American
Revolution Bicentennial; the National Visitor Center at Washington, D.C.’s
Union Station opened. July 12, 1976, Ford signed into law the Airport
and Airway Development Act Amendments of 1976, ending a one-year lapse
in authorization for Federal airport aid. July 28-31, 1976, PATCO president John F. Leyden
ordered a slowdown by PATCO-affiliated air traffic controllers to protest
the U.S. Civil Service Commission's delay in completing a pay reclassification
study for controllers. December 6, 1976, Coleman called on the automobile
manufacturing industry to join the Federal Government in conducting a
nationwide, large-scale, two-year demonstration of the lifesaving and
injury-avoidance capabilities of passenger restraint systems in passenger
automobiles. January 5, 1977, after negotiations with the
Commonwealth of Virginia and public hearings, Coleman approved federal
aid for the construction of Interstate 66 between the Capital Beltway
and the District of Columbia. As approved, I-66 will be a four-lane, limited-access
highway with the Metrorail line to Vienna in its median. Certain lanes
will be HOV lanes, and other environmental measures taken into consideration. January 12, 1977, Coleman issued National Transportation
Trends and Choices--To the Year 2000. January 18, 1977, Coleman announced that General
Motors, Ford, and Volkswagen have signed on for the Department's air bag
demonstration program. January 19, 1977, Coleman and Deputy Secretary
John W. Barnum released proposals for reorganizing DOT. January 23, 1977, former Representative Brock
Adams (D-WA) was administered the oath of office as the nation’s
fifth Secretary of Transportation. March 30, 1977, Adams reversed Coleman's decision
to fund a new airport for greater St. Louis, opting instead to update
existing facilities at Lambert Field. April 28, 1977, Joseph A. Califano, Jr., then
Carter’s Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, following nationwide
civil disobedience by persons with disabilities, signed the Section 504
regulations of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which mandated that public
transit facilities--among other things--should be accessible to all, regardless
of handicap. May 19, 1977, following a public hearing, Adams
declared that the Transbus, after September 30, 1979, should meet certain
specifications: a stationary floor height of not more than 22 inches,
a kneeling feature, and a ramp for boarding and exiting. June 10, 1977, the Senate confirmed Alfred
E. Kahn as Chairman of the CAB. A former economics professor at Cornell,
Kahn's policies at the CAB helped to pave the way for legislation that
virtually ended the economic regulation of airlines. July 23, 1977, representatives of the United
States and the United Kingdom signed the capacity-restricting Bermuda
II Agreement, replacing the Bermuda Air Service Agreement of 1946, and
making air travel cheaper and more convenient for American travelers.
The U.S. negotiating team, led by former Secretary of Transportation Alan
S. Boyd, argued for open competition. September 23, 1977, at the end of its 16-month
trial at Dulles Airport, Adams proposed that the Concorde SST could land
in eleven additional U.S. cities, unless banned by fair and nondiscriminatory
local standards. In view of its exceptional loudness, however, he retained
the ban on Concorde operations between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., as well
as the absolute prohibition on supersonic flight over land. September 23, 1977, Adams established a new
multi-modal Research and Special Programs Directorate (seven months later
the Research and Special Programs Administration), consolidating the Transportation
Systems Center, the Materials Transportation Bureau, the Transportation
Safety Institute, and diverse OST intermodal activities that did not readily
fit in any of the existing Operating Administrations. October 17, 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted
the ban by New York's JFK Airport on the Concorde SST, clearing the way
for immediate trial flights. November 22, 1977, the first Concorde flights
landed at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. February 6, 1978, asserting that DOT would
be shifting from an agency that simply builds transportation systems to
one that is concerned how those systems serve people, Adams released Transportation
Policy for a Changing America to the Congress. March 10, 1978, the United States and the Netherlands
signed a new international aviation agreement, based on the principle
of free competition and regarded as a model for similar understandings
that the United States hoped to negotiate. On March 17, the United States
also announced a new agreement with the United Kingdom, within the context
of the Bermuda II treaty, making possible a range of lower fares between
the two nations. March 23, 1978, Adams presented flight attendant
Dorothy Kelly with the Department’s first-ever Award for Heroism.
The year before, Kelly was a flight attendant aboard the Pan American
World Airways jumbo jet that collided with a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
plane at Tenerife in the Canary Islands, resulting in 582 deaths. Sixty-two
on board the Pan Am jet survived, due mainly to the lifesaving efforts
of Kelly, who had suffered head injuries and a broken arm, as well as
four other Pan Am crewmembers honored by the FAA. August 21, 1978, maintaining that “maximum
consumer benefits can be best achieved through the preservation and extension
of competition between airlines in a fair marketplace," the Carter
administration announced a new international aviation policy, intended
to increase competition and lessen government regulation of international
aviation. October 21, 1978, Carter signed into law the
Inland Waterways Authorization Act, which imposed, for the first time,
user fees on the inland waterways barge industry. October 24, 1978, Carter signed the Small Business
Act Amendments on October 24, 1978, leading to the establishment of the
Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization. October 24, 1978, Carter signed into law the
Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which allowed immediate fare reductions
of up to 70 percent without CAB approval, and automatic entry of new airlines
into routes not protected by other air carriers. Smaller communities,
from which airlines might wish to shift their operations, received guaranteed
essential air services (EAS) for ten years under the act, with a government
subsidy if necessary. The law phased out the Board's authority over fares,
routes, and mergers--entirely before 1983--and, unless Congress acted,
the CAB itself would shut down by January 1, 1985. November 6, 1978, Carter signed into law the
Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1978, which consolidated, for
the first time, federal financial assistance programs for highways and
public transportation. December 5, 1978, Adams urged more than 500
members of the Economic Club of Detroit to join him in an "all-out
search for the engine of the future." February 25, 1979, Adams, by a Determination
Order, established the Office of Inspector General at the Department. March 7, 1979, the Office of Federal Procurement
Policy issued Letter No, 79-1, requiring that each agency with contracting
authority establish an Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilizaation
and appointing a director who would report to that agency’s head. May 18, 1979, Carter met with leaders of the
four largest American automobile manufacturers, getting an agreement to
formulate a cooperative program in automotive research. The aim of this
project was to develop safer, more fuel-efficient, and less-polluting
automobiles by the 1990s. May 31, 1979, DOT's regulations designed to
implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, mandated that
federally funded transportation facilities and programs should be accessible
to all, regardless of handicap. June 19, 1979, Carter announced Reorganization
Plan Number 3, creating among other things the Federal Emergency Management
Agency. July 10, 1979, DOT announced the establishment
of the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization within the
Office of the Secretary. July 15, 1979, Carter delivered his so-called
“malaise” speech on the energy crisis. July 20, 1979, when Carter reshuffled his Cabinet,
Adams resigned as Secretary of Transportation; Carter designated the Secretary
of the Navy, W. Graham Claytor, Jr., to be Acting Secretary of Transportation. July 31, 1979, the Chrysler Corporation requested
$1 billion in federal funds to avert bankruptcy. August 15, 1979, in a Portland, Oregon, ceremony,
Carter nominated Mayor Neil Goldschmidt Secretary of Transportation, and
made him an interim recess appointee. September 24, 1979, three days after his Senate
confirmation, Neil Edward Goldschmidt formally took the oath of office
as the nation's sixth Secretary of Transportation. September 29, 1979, Carter signed into law
Amtrak reauthorization legislation, which reduced that passenger train
system’s routes by approximately 16 percent, far less severe than
the 43 percent cut that Adams had announced in January. January 6, 1980, Carter signed into law the
Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act of 1979. February 1, 1980, Carter signed Executive Order
12191, which directed executive agencies to increase ridesharing as a
means to conserve oil, reduce congestion, improve air quality, and provide
an economical way for Federal employees to commute to work. February 15, 1980, Carter signed into law the
International Air Transportation Competition Act of 1979, designed to
reduce regulation and increase competition in international air transportation
and to strengthen the position of the United States in its dealings with
foreign states that were discriminating against American airlines. Section
29 of the law, named the “Wright Amendment” for House Majority
Leader James C Wright, Jr. (D-TX), limited scheduled airline operations
at Love Field, Dallas, Texas, to aircraft seating fifty-six passengers
or less, except for service within Texas and states bordering on Texas. February 18, 1980, Carter signed into law the
Aviation Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979. June 3, 1980, Carter called nine hundred U.S.
Coast Guard reservists to active duty to help with the Cuban Mariel refugee
sealift. July 1, 1980, Carter signed into law the Motor
Carrier Regulatory Reform and Modernization Act of 1980, allowing trucking
lines greater freedom to set rates, cut antitrust relief for agencies
and associations that collectively set rates, and open entry to new truck
lines. October 14, 1980, Carter signed into law the
Railroad Regulatory Act, better known as the Staggers Rail Act of 1980. October 15, 1980, Carter signed into law the
Household Goods Regulatory Reform Act of 1980, which reduced the regulation
of the household goods moving industry while strengthening security for
consumers. October 20, 1980, candidate Ronald Reagan wrote
PATCO president Robert E. Poli. "You can rest assured that if I am
elected President, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide
our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and
to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with
achieving a maximum degree of public safety." Three days later, the
PATCO executive board endorsed Reagan for President. January 23, 1981, Pennsylvania politician-businessman
Andrew Lindsay “Drew” Lewis, Jr., took the oath of office as
the nation’s seventh Secretary of Transportation. January 28, 1981, Lewis announced the formation
of a Presidential task force to revitalize the American automotive industry. February 17, 1981, President Ronald Reagan
signed Executive Order 12291, which required agencies to weigh the costs
and benefits of proposed major regulations and to pick the least costly
alternative. February 23, 1981, federal officials closed
the National Visitors Center at Washington, D.C.'s Union Station, declaring
it an unsafe hazard. March 15, 1981, the labor contract between
FAA and PATCO expired. March 23, 1981, Lewis announced that the Japanese
government had agreed to a voluntary 3-year reduction of about 6 or 7
percent in automotive exports to give American manufacturers a decent
interval to retool their small car production capability. May 26, 1981, in APTA v. Lewis, the U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that DOT’s Section
504 regulations (nondiscrimination on the basis of handicap) exceeded
the limits of the law upon which they were based, and imposed onerous
burdens on local transit programs. Rather than throw out the rules, the
court directed the Department to amend them. July 20, 1981, DOT issued an interim final
regulation, amending its Section 504 regulations, giving local communities
greater flexibility in determining how to apply transit funds to provide
transportation for persons with disabilities. August 6, 1981, Reagan signed into law legislation
transferring the Maritime Administration from the Commerce Department
to the Department of Transportation, fulfilling the intent of the DOT
Act–that one cabinet-level department would be responsible for coordinating
all transportation programs. August 13, 1981, Reagan signed into law the
Northeast Rail Service Act of 1981, paving the way for the privatization
of Conrail, helping Conrail to achieve self-sufficiency--in part by allowing
it to divest itself of its commuter rail services. September 29, 1981, the Minority Business Resources
Center Advisory Committee became a part of OST. October 22, 1981, the Federal Labor Relations
Authority decertified PATCO as the exclusive representative of the FAA's
controllers. October 23, 1981, NHTSA Administrator Raymond
A. Peck, Jr., rescinded Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 208, which
Secretary Adams had amended to require automatic restraints in all passenger
cars. November 20, 1981, in response to considerable
opposition from advocacy groups for the blind, the FAA permitted blind
airline passengers to use certain approved methods of storing their canes
at their seats. December 9, 1981, Reagan directed the Office
of Personnel Management to reopen opportunities for federal employment--except
at FAA, where it would be divisive--to those whom he had terminated for
their participation in the PATCO strike. December 29, 1981, Reagan signed into law the
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1981, which established the Interstate 4R program,
providing funds for resurfacing, restoring, rehabilitating, and reconstructing
the Interstate system. January 28, 1982, the FAA issued the National
Airspace System Plan, outlining its blueprint for updating and modernizing,
over the next two decades, its ATC and navigation systems, including,
among other components, the Advanced Automation System for air traffic,
Doppler weather radar, and the Microwave Landing System. May 12, 1982, Braniff Airlines became the first
scheduled airline to file for protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy
code in the history of American civil aviation. Six years later, a DOT
administrative law judge determined that the Airline Deregulation Act
had helped to cause Braniff's collapse. July 2, 1982, PATCO filed a request for liquidation
under Chapter 7 of the Federal Bankruptcy Act. After filing to liquidate
under Chapter 7, union president Gary Eads declared, "It is over
for PATCO. The union is gone." September 3, 1982, Reagan signed into law Tax
Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act, Title V of which was the Airport
and Airway Improvement Act of 1982. Increasing aviation user taxes, the
act raised the airline passenger ticket tax from five to 8 percent, increased
the general aviation gasoline tax from four to 12 cents a gallon, levied
a 14-cent-a-gallon jet fuel tax, and reimposed the 5 percent air cargo
tax and the $3 international departure fee. September 21, 1982, Reagan signed into law
the Bus Regulatory Reform Act. December 18, 1982, Reagan signed into law the
1983 appropriations bill for the Department of Transportation, which among
other things provided for the cancellation of the remainder of the Saint
Lawrence Seaway’s construction debt. December 28, 1982, after securing passage of
the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982--and the user fees to
finance it, Lewis announced his resignation as Secretary, effective February
1, 1983. January 6, 1983, Reagan signed into law the
Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982. January 14, 1983, Reagan signed into law the
Alaska Railroad Transfer Act of 1982, which transferred all rail properties
of the Alaska Railroad to the State of Alaska. February 7, 1983, Elizabeth Hanford Dole, the
former director of the White House Office of Public Liaison, took the
oath of office as the nation’s eighth Secretary of Transportation. March 2, 1983, Dole announced a plan to renovate
and reopen Washington, D.C.'s Union Station as a "vibrant" railroad
terminal, with restaurants and shops. June 24, 1983, in State Farm v. DOT, the U.
S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, overturned NHTSA's October
1981 rescission of its passive restraint standard. The Court ruled that
NHTSA, having failed to present an adequate basis and explanation for
its action, acted arbitrarily and capriciously. August 31, 1983, Soviet interceptors downed
Korean Air Lines Flight 007, a 747 that had penetrated the Soviet Union's
airspace during a flight bound for Japan from Alaska. All 269 persons
aboard, including Rep. Larry P. McDonald (D-GA) and 60 other Americans,
perished. October 13, 1983, Dole mandated the center
high-mounted stop lamp on the rear windshield, the so-called “Dole
brake light”. December 13, 1983, the Presidential Commission
on Drunk Driving, which former Secretary Volpe had chaired, issued its
report, recommending, among other things, that Congress deny some federal
highway funds to states that did not adopt a minimum drinking age of twenty-one. February 13, 1984, Dole outlined an agenda
for aviation that included a safety review such as she had ordered for
the other transportation modes. February 24, 1984, Reagan signed Executive
Order 12465 designating the Department as the lead federal agency for
the coordination and oversight of American commercial space launch activities.
The Office of Commercial Space Transportation, centered in the Office
of the Secretary, was operational and Jennifer Dorn appointed as its director. March 20, 1984, Reagan signed into law the
Shipping Act of 1984, which provided evenhanded care and legal support
for U. S.-flag carriers competing with foreign-flag carriers. June 8, 1984, proposing to transfer Washington
National and Dulles International airports from the Federal Government,
Dole announced the appointment of an advisory commission to make recommendations
on the establishment of a state, local, or interstate body to assume operation
of the airports. July 11, 1984, responding to the Supreme Court
dismissal of NHTSA’s earlier attempts to rescind Carter-era passive
restraint standards, Dole issued a final rule mandating air bags and/or
automatic seat belt restraints in all automobiles after 1990, unless states
representing two-thirds of the American population voted for the mandatory
use of seat belts. July 17, 1984, Reagan signed into law legislation
establishing twenty-one as the national minimum drinking age, to take
effect October 1, 1986. October 4, 1984, Reagan signed into law the
Civil Aeronautics Board Sunset Act of 1984, which transferred to DOT,
among other things, CAB’s consumer protection functions and its authority
to approve consolidations, mergers, and antitrust exemptions for airlines. October 30, 1984, Reagan signed into law the
Tandem Truck Safety Act of 1984 and the Motor Carrier Safety Act of 1984. October 30, 1984, Reagan signed into law the
Commercial Space Launch Act of 1984, which gave DOT’s Office of Commercial
Space Transportation the responsibility for promoting private sector commercial
space endeavors. December 31, 1984, pursuant to the Airline
Deregulation Act, the CAB ceased operations. January 1, 1985, with CAB’s “sunset,”
DOT assumed for the first time, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary
for Policy and International Affairs, vital aviation-related regulatory
functions, including the aviation economic fitness program, functions
related to consumer protection, antitrust oversight, and the review of
international route negotiations and route awards to carriers. The Research
and Special Projects Administration assumed responsibility for collection
and dissemination of air carrier economic data. January 5, 1985, pursuant to the Alaska Railroad
Transfer Act of 1982, administration of the Alaska Railroad transferred
to the State of Alaska. June 14, 1985, two Shiite Muslims hijacked
TWA Flight 847 just after takeoff from Athens, Greece, murdered Navy SEAL
Robert Stethem, and forced the plane to Beirut, Lebanon, precipitating
a 17-day hostage crisis. Dole subsequently closed Beirut’s airport
to American aviation. August 8, 1985, Reagan signed into law the
International Security and Development Cooperation Act of 1985, authorizing
$5 million for the Federal Air Marshal program, and research and development
of airport security devices and explosives detection techniques. August 16, 1985, Dole released a report on
the FAA's Flight Standards programs by the Safety Review Task Force that
she had created in December 1983 to examine the safety programs of all
the Department's modal administrations. October 7, 1985, terrorists from the Palestinian
Liberation Organization hijacked the Italian cruise ship, ACHILLE LAURO,
killing Leon Klinghoffer, a wheelchair-bound American. November 7, 1985, Dole approved United Airlines'
acquisition of Pan American World Airways’ Pacific routes. January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger
exploded seventy-four seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing
all seven aboard. June 23, 1986, the Department announced new
regulations, on the drawing boards for five years, requiring recipients
of UMTA financial assistance to prepare a program for providing transit
services for persons with disabilities. August 15, 1986, in the aftermath of the Challenger
disaster, Reagan announced that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
would no longer be in the business of launching commercial payloads, giving
the green light to private manufacturers to enter the commercial launch
market. August 15, 1986, pursuant an agreement with
Japan and the Soviet Union, a new communications link provided a dedicated
voice circuit between ATC centers in Tokyo and Khabarovsk, U.S.S.R. American
controllers at Anchorage could also communicate with Khabarovsk by patching
through the Tokyo center. September 15, 1986, Reagan signed Executive
Order 12564, calling for a drug-free federal workplace. September 18, 1986, the U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia refused to overturn the July 1984
rule encouraging the states to pass mandatory seat belt laws, but said
that, because of the way their legislatures had drafted them, the Department
could not count twenty of the states’ laws toward rescinding passive
restraint standards. September 26, 1986, Reagan signed Executive
Order 12566, which required federal employees to use safety belts. October 1, 1986, the Bureau of Motor Carrier
Safety, the Office of Motor Carrier Transportation, and the Office of
Program Management were reorganized into the Office of Motor Carriers,
responsible to the Associate Administrator for Motor Carriers. October 2, 1986, Reagan signed into law the
Air Carrier Access Act of 1986, which required commercial airlines to
provide nondiscriminatory service for passengers with disabilities. October 21, 1986, Reagan signed into law the
Conrail Privatization Act, which scrapped the Department's single-bid
process in favor of a public auction of Conrail stock. October 22, 1986, Reagan signed into law the
Surface Freight Forwarders Deregulation Act of 1986, completing the deregulation
of the freight forwarder business. October 30, 1986, Reagan signed Public Law
99-591, the $576 billion omnibus bill, including Title VI, the Metropolitan
Washington Airports Act of 1986, which formed the Washington Metropolitan
Airports Authority, along with legislation transferring to it the administration
and operation of National and Dulles airports. The bill also extended
the legal range of nonstop flights to and from National from 1,000 to
1,250 miles, enabling nonstop service to Dallas and Houston, in conformance
with an amendment sought by House Majority Leader Jim Wright (D-TX). October 30, 1986, Title V of P. L, 99-591,
the Aviation Safety Commission Act of 1986, established a commission of
seven members appointed by the President to study the adequacy of federal
air safety efforts. November 12, 1986, Reagan signed the Water
Resources Development Act of 1986, part of which, among other things,
converted the SLSDC from a self-financing to an appropriated agency and
eliminated the U.S. portion of the Seaway tolls. January 4, 1987, an Amtrak train collided with
a string of Conrail diesels near Chase, Maryland, killing sixteen and
injuring 175. Subsequent investigation found that marijuana use likely
had impaired a Conrail engineer. This incident helped to spur the Department's
release of a package of rules mandating drug testing for the transportation
industry's four million employees. April 1, 1987, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development
Corporation ceased retaining tolls collected from commercial vehicles. April 2, 1987, Congress overrode Reagan's veto
of the Surface Transportation and Uniform Relocation Assistance Act of
1987. To correct incompatible practices throughout the government, a section
of this bill made DOT the lead agency for implementing the Uniform Act.
The STURAA was the final highway authorization of the Interstate era. June 7, 1987, Washington National and Dulles
International airports transferred from the FAA to the Metropolitan Washington
Airports Authority. June 11, 1987, the nation's controllers voted
to adopt the nonadversarial National Air Traffic Controllers Association
as their bargaining unit. That union wrote a no-strike clause into its
constitution. September 2, 1987, Dole announced a rule instructing
all major air carriers to file monthly reports on their delay and baggage
handling records. September 9, 1987, pursuant to Executive Order
12564, calling for a drug-free Federal workplace, DOT instituted random
urinalysis testing for its more than 24,000 employees in jobs directly
affecting safety and security, the first such Departmentwide program. December 3, 1987, the former Deputy Secretary,
and Acting Secretary, James Horace Burnley IV, took the oath of office
as the nation’s ninth Secretary of Transportation. December 30, 1987, Reagan signed into law the
Airport and Airway Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1987, extending
authority for the Airport Improvement Program for five years. February 11, 1988, Burnley announced Departmental
approval of the nation’s first commercial space launch license to
Conatec, Inc., of Lanham, Maryland. March 9, 1988, Burnley announced the formation
of the Secretary’s Task Force on Internal Reforms of the Federal
Aviation Administration, co-chaired by FAA Administrator T. Allan McArtor
and DOT’s Assistant Secretary for Administration Jon H. Seymour. April 18, 1988, the President's Commission
on Aviation Safety issued its Final Report and Recommendations, including
an independent Federal Aviation Authority with an Administrator appointed
by the President for a 7-year term. April 23, 1988, a ban on smoking on U.S. airline
flights of less than two hours went into effect. September 29, 1988, Washington, D.C.’s
Union Station reopened. November 14, 1988, Burnley announced that the
Department issued regulations requiring drug testing, including random
testing of those holding safety- and security-related positions in the
motor carrier, railroad, maritime, mass transit, aviation, and pipeline
industries. December 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb blew up
Pan American World Airways Flight 103 over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland,
killing 270, including eleven on the ground. January 11, 1989, Burnley released a proposal
to reorganize the Department, restructuring the operating administrations
to three, for surface, air, and water. He hoped it would give Congress,
his successor, and the public some options, “something to chew on,”
choices that he found useful alternatives to proposals that had one agency
or another leaving the Department. February 6, 1989, in ceremonies at the FAA
Auditorium, with President George H. W. Bush looking on, Samuel Knox Skinner,
the former head of the Regional Transportation Authority of Northeastern
Illinois, took the oath of office as the nation’s tenth Secretary
of Transportation. February 16, 1989, British police said that
a bomb hidden in a radio-cassette player had probably caused the explosion
that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103. March 4, 1989, the International Association
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers went out on strike against Frank Lorenzo’s
Eastern Air Lines. March 7, 1989, Bush asked Skinner to lead the
Administration's efforts to prevent federal intervention in the strike
at Eastern Air Lines, and to avoid an escalation of the strike at Eastern
into a general transportation shutdown. March 9, 1989, Eastern filed for bankruptcy
protection. May 1, 1989, the FAA and the National Air Traffic
Controllers Association concluded their first collective bargaining agreement. August 4, 1989, Bush signed Executive Order
12686, establishing the President’s Commission on Aviation Security
and Terrorism, headed by former Labor Secretary Anne Dore McLaughlin. August 27, 1989, McDonnell Douglas Space Systems
Company launched the first privately owned rocket to carry a payload into
orbit, a television broadcasting satellite for a British company. September 5, 1989, Bush announced his administration’s
National Drug Control Strategy. September 17-22, 1989, Hurricane Hugo swept
into Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the Carolinas, the Coast Guard
being the sole major federal presence on St. Croix. October 17, 1989, at 5:04 p.m., local time,
as the San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics prepared to play the
third game of the World Series, the Loma Prieta earthquake, registering
7.1 on the Richter scale, struck the San Francisco Bay Area, killing forty-two.
Bush named Skinner to coordinate the federal response to the disaster. January 30, 1990, Skinner announced the “Cities
Program,” which opened access to new U.S. markets for non-U.S. airlines,
who homeland governments embraced pro-competitive aviation relationships
with the United States. February 25, 1990, in response to a congressional
mandate, prohibition of smoking went into effect on virtually all scheduled
U.S. domestic airline flights. Flights to or from Alaska or Hawaii scheduled
to last six hours or more were exempted. March 6, 1990, implementing the Air Carrier
Access Act of 1986, DOT issued a revised regulation prohibiting airline
discrimination against disabled passengers. The rule required accommodation
for wheelchairs and limited an airline’s ability to restrict the
number of disabled persons on a flight or to require passengers to travel
with an attendant. It also included a ban on seating restrictions for
the disabled, except to comply with the FAA's safety rule. March 8, 1990, Skinner presented the Department’s
Statement on National Transportation Policy to President Bush. March 27, 1990, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines became
the first of several carriers to receive route awards under the “Cities
Program.” April 1990, Skinner released the Department's
National Transportation Strategic Planning Study, a multi-modal, long-range
strategic planning study that projected the needs for moving people and
goods in the year 2015. May 15, 1990, in compliance with Executive
Order 12686, the President’s Commission on Aviation Security and
Terrorism issued its Report. June 14, 1990, Skinner announced his intention
to create an Office of Intelligence and Security within OST, and that
its first Director would be Coast Guard Vice Admiral Clyde E. Robbins.
In a parallel move, FAA Administrator James Busey created the position
of assistant administrator for civil aviation security, naming Marine
Corps General O.K. Steele to that post. August 2, 1990, in a matter of hours, Iraq
invaded Kuwait, annexed it, and massed its forces there, menacing Saudi
Arabia, and triggering the US-led UN-Coalition response, Operation DESERT
SHIELD. August 10, 1990, the Maritime Administration
activated sealift ships from the Ready Reserve Force. August 17, 1990, the FAA oversaw, for the first
time in the history of the program, the activation of part of the Civil
Reserve Air Fleet for airlift to the Gulf; Skinner and Admiral Kime commit
Coast Guard law enforcement boarding teams to Operation DESERT SHIELD. August 18, 1990, Bush signed into law the Oil
Pollution Act of 1990, which provided for tougher penalties and liability
for oil spillers, allocated more resources to deal with the spills, and
placed greater accountability on the Coast Guard to respond promptly to
these incidents. August 22, 1990, Bush authorized call-up of
members of the selected reserve to active duty in support of Operation
DESERT SHIELD. Three port security units (PSUs), consisting of 550 Coast
Guard reservists, went to the Persian Gulf, the first involuntary overseas
mobilization of Coast Guard Reserve PSUs in the Coast Guard Reserve's
50-year history. September 1, 1990, DOT prohibited smoking in
all Departmental facilities, except in designated areas. September 18, 1990, the Department renamed
the Transportation Systems Center the Volpe National Transportation Systems
Center. October 5, 1990, Bush signed into law the Andean
Trade Preference Act of 1990, legislation designed to entice Andean farmers
from the drug trade by offering duty-free treatment for certain articles
from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. October 15, 1990, Bush signed legislation redesignating
the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways as the Dwight D.
Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways. November 5, 1990, Bush signed into law the
Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990 and the Airport Noise
and Capacity Act of 1990, among other things allowing airports to impose
passenger facility charges to raise revenue for improvements and capacity
expansion. November 15, 1990, Bush signed into law the
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, which set new deadlines for urban areas
failing to meet national air quality standards, and established new and
stricter auto emissions standards. November 15, 1990, Bush signed into law the
Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, which mandated that agencies show
how program outcomes supported agency missions; the CFO Act authorized
the establishment of a Chief Financial Officer in each executive department. November 16, 1990, Bush signed into law the
Aviation Security Improvement Act of 1990; it incorporated many recommendations
of the President's Commission on Aviation and Terrorism, which among other
things codified the establishment of the Office of Intelligence and Security
in the Office of the Secretary January 16, 1991, one day after the expiration
of a United Nations deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait, Coalition
forces launched Operation DESERT STORM, a six-week air campaign, followed
by a 100-hour ground war, which drove the Iraqis out of Kuwait. January 18, 1991, Eastern Air Lines liquidated. January 23, 1991, Skinner announced that DOT
would relax its restrictions on foreign investment in U.S. airlines. Under
the new policy, investment of up to 49 percent of total equity obtained
from foreign sources would not necessarily be considered, by itself, an
indicator of foreign control. February 8, 1991, the FAA's first annual Capital
Investment Plan became effective, superseding the National Airspace System
Plan (NASP). The new plan incorporated NASP projects, more than 86 percent
completed or in field implementation. February 13, 1991, Skinner proposed the Surface
Transportation Assistance Act of 1991 to reauthorize federal highway,
highway safety, and mass transit programs for the next five years. This
initiative evolved into the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency
Act by the end of the year. March 11, 1991, the United States and the United
Kingdom reached an agreement on airline service that included permission
for United and American Airlines to succeed Pan American and Trans World
Airways in serving London Heathrow Airport. March 25, 1991, the Department held the first
federal agency Diversity Summit. April 1, 1991, the FAA proposed stiffer hiring,
training, and performance standards for airline and airport security personnel. June 20, 1991, Skinner announced a further
liberalization of the law regarding foreign investment in U.S. air carriers,
raising the maximum foreign ownership of voting stock in U.S. air carriers
from twenty-five to 49 percent. July 1, 1991, the Piper Aircraft Corporation
filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code. September 6, 1991, DOT published regulations
implementing provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act. October 28, 1991, Bush signed the Aging Aircraft
Safety Act into law, authorizing the FAA to require certain airworthiness
reviews and inspections for airliners in service more than fifteen years. November 14, 1991, the Justice Department and
Scotland Yard indicted two Libyan intelligence agents for the December
1988 bombing of Pan American World Airways Flight 103. December 4, 1991, after sixty-four years of
operations, Pan American World Airways went out of business. December 5, 1991, Bush named Skinner to succeed
John Sununu as the White House Chief of Staff. December 12, 1991, Skinner bid the Department
farewell; Admiral James B. Busey, IV, the former FAA Administrator who
had taken the oath of office as Deputy Secretary on December 4, became
Acting Secretary of Transportation. December 18, 1991, at Euless, Texas, Bush signed
into law the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991,
giving states greater flexibility in the use of funds for mass transit,
and emphasizing regional planning and efforts to reduce automobile pollution
in urban areas. Within DOT, the legislation renamed UMTA the Federal Transit
Administration, and authorized the establishment of the Office of Intermodalism
and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. December 18, 1991, as part of the ISTEA bill,
Bush signed the air bag mandate into law. January 26, 1992, public accommodations and
public transportation provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act
went into effect. January 28, 1992, in his State of the Union
address, Bush declared a 90-day rulemaking moratorium and a review of
regulations that hurt the nation’s economy. February 24, 1992, in a private ceremony, former
White House deputy chief of staff Andrew Hill Card, Jr., took the oath
of office as the nation’s eleventh Secretary of Transportation. March 11, 1992, in official ceremonies at the
Smithsonian Institution's Air and Space Museum, Card formally took the
oath of office. March 31, 1992, DOT announced that the United
States would explore "open skies" aviation agreements with all
European countries willing to allow free access to their markets. Heretofore,
it had offered such agreements to only a few of its largest aviation partners. May 1, 1992, Card announced that a regulatory
review had identified more than 300 administrative or legislative changes
in DOT regulations that would help the nation's economy. July 2, 1992, pursuant to the Intermodal Surface
Transportation Equity Act of 1991, DOT established its Office of Intermodalism
in the Office of the Associate Deputy Secretary. |
