Federal Transportation Acts
Landmark Legislation
U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Key Initiative(s)
Enacted
Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 (Bankhead‐Shackleford Act)
First federal act to provide funding to states to improve roadway conditions across the nation. 1916
Federal‐Aid Highway Act of 1944
1944
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Created a national system of Interstate highways; Expanded federal funding assistance to secondary roads; Established construction and operational standards
Federal‐Aid Highway Act of 1956 (National Interstate and Defense Highways Act) Federal‐Aid Highway Act of 1962
Dwight D. Eisenhower Authorized construction of 41,000 miles of Interstate Highway System; Largest public works project in American history at the time; Established the Highway Trust Fund. 1956
Established the first requirements for a “continuing, comprehensive, and cooperative” transportation planning process in America’s metropolitan areas to address the controversies and dislocation caused by Interstate construction. 1962 Created a new intermodal approach to transportation and established new requirements for collaborative planning; Provided authority to Metropolitan Planning Organizations to coordinated decisions among state and local governments; Authorized the rails to trails program. 1991 Expanded requirements for regional transportation plans developed by Metropolitan Planning Organizations. 1998
John F. Kennedy
Intermodal Surface Transportation Equity Act of 1991 (ISTEA)
George H.W. Bush
Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TEA‐21) Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA‐LU)
Bill Clinton
2005
George W. Bush
Expanded funding opportunities for transit and other multimodal solutions; Provided additional flexibility in the use of federal funding according to state and local priorities.
Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21 st Century (MAP‐21)
2012
Barack Obama
Consolidated the number of federal transportation grant programs by two‐thirds; Reformed the environmental review process to speed up projects; Provided more flexibility to toll highways; Established performance‐based planning requirements. Expanded the number of planning factors to be considered by Metropolitan Planning Organizations from eight to ten in order to provide increased alignment with the economic goals; Strengthened Buy America requirements; Required USDOT to designate national electric vehicle charging corridors.
Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act
2015
Barack Obama
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