HISTORY OF A COOPERATIVE PARTNERSHIP: THE HIGHWAY RESEARCH BOARD AND THE FEDERAL-AID HIGHWAY PROGRAM

Since the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1916, the federal and state governments have shared the costs and responsibilities of a national highway program. One product of this cooperative administration has been highway research, which has been largely funded and guided through the federal-aid highway program. This broad-based, cooperative research program has generally produced the roads the United States has needed. However, occasional problems of dissemination of information and coordination remain. Strengths and weaknesses of the cooperative research partnership, particularly through the 1960s, are examined in this article, and the influence of Thomas H. MacDonald, chief of the Bureau of Public Roads from 1919 to 1953, is traced. Also discussed is the role of the Highway Research Board which was created in 1924 and became the Transportation Research Board in 1974.