Our Administration is a major agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).  As a cabinet-level organization of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, the DOT is led by a presidential appointee-the Secretary of Transportation.  The top-level official at FHWA is the Administrator, who reports directly to the Secretary of Transportation.  FHWA is headquartered in Washington, DC, with field offices in every State, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

FHWA is charged with the broad responsibility of ensuring that America’s roads and highways continue to be the safest and most technologically up-to-date. Although State, local, and tribal governments own most of the Nation’s highways, we provide financial and technical support to them for constructing, improving, and preserving America’s highway system.  Our annual budget of more than $30 billion is funded by fuel and motor vehicle excise taxes. The budget is primarily divided between two programs:  Federal-aid funding to State and local governments; and Federal Lands Highways funding for national parks, national forests, Indian lands, and other land under Federal stewardship.

Our Programs

The Federal-aid Highway Program provides Federal financial resources and technical assistance to State and local governments for constructing, preserving, and improving the National Highway System, a 163,000+ (163,752 actual) mile network of roads, comprises only 4 percent of the nation’s total road mileage, but carries approximately 45 percent of the Nation’s highway traffic.  The program also provides resources for one million additional miles of urban and rural roads that are not on the System, but that are eligible for Federal-aid.

The Federal Lands Highway (FLH) Program provides funding for public roads and highways within federally owned lands and tribal lands that are not a State or local government responsibility.  Each year more than 900 million people visit National parks, forests, and wildlife refuges. Through our Federal Lands Highways program we provide funding to maintain and improve access to these areas that include preparing plans, letting contracts, and supervising construction projects.

Our Vision...

Our Agency and our Transportation System are the Best in the World

Our Mission...

Improve Mobility on our Nation’s Highways Through National Leadership, Innovation and Program Delivery

Our Strategic Goals...

At FHWA, we pursue our mission and vision by focusing on four strategic goals:

System Performance – The Nation’s Highway system provides safe, reliable, effective and sustainable mobility for all users.

National Leadership – FHWA leads in developing and advocating solutions to national transportation needs.

Program Delivery – Federal Highway programs are effectively and consistently delivered through successful partnerships, value-added stewardship, and risk based oversight.

Corporate Capacity – Organizational resources are optimally deployed to meet today’s and tomorrow’s missions.

 
Our Vital Few Priorities

• Safety
• Congestion Mitigation
• Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining
 
The Vital Few priorities are the focus areas that show the biggest performance gaps in the transportation system and present opportunities for FHWA to make the greatest difference.  We are committed to being successful in these focus areas.
 
Safety

Safety on our highways is FHWA’s top priority.  More than 42,000 people are killed annually in traffic crashes in this country.  That equates to about 115 fatalities a day.  We must find, and we are finding, new opportunities and developing new technologies for saving lives.  FHWA is aggressively advancing the activities and projects that we already know prevent crashes and that reduce fatalities and serious injuries when crashes do happen.  FHWA is focusing its safety program on addressing three crash types that relate most highly to fatalities: roadway departures, intersections, and pedestrians.  We also partner with others in DOT to increase the use of safety belts, as thousands of lives could be saved if every vehicle occupant would simply buckle-up.
 
In addition, FHWA conducts safety research, technology, and outreach projects that contribute to multiple objectives.  These include speed management to encourage wider adoption of safe travel speeds appropriate for road and travel conditions; safety management to ensure that resources are allocated to achieve the maximum returns in reducing the severity and frequency of crashes; human-centered systems to incorporate human factors into all aspects of highway design; work zone safety improvements; and a variety of safety outreach efforts.  FHWA makes safety a top priority and we continue to work toward making America’s highway system one of the safest in the world.  For information on safety facts, visit the FHWA Web site at: http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/facts/index.htm
 
Congestion Mitigation
 
Congestion mitigation is another one of our top priorities. Demand for highway travel continues to grow as population increases. Between 1980 and 1999, miles of highways increased 1.5 percent while vehicle miles of travel increased 76 percent. FHWA is working with regional partnerships to address all aspects of congestion, including two of the most prevalent causes of traffic congestion; work zones and traffic incidents.  We are providing substantial assistance to State and local transportation agencies as they develop projects to increase capacity and remove bottlenecks.
 
For example, we help fund traffic control centers in large metropolitan areas that can track traffic flow, identify trouble areas, and disseminate information to the traveling public so that travelers can avoid congestion.  Many cities have now installed these centers to provide information such as incident management (accident alerting), and congestion management. The centers also help promote safety and improve air quality. In July 2000, FHWA and DOT coordinated with the Federal Communications Commission to reserve the numbers “511” to enable travelers nationwide to access travel and traffic information across any area of the Nation.  For national traffic and road closure information, visit the FHWA Web site at: www.fhwa.dot.gov/trafficinfo/
 
Environmental Stewardship and Streamlining
 
FHWA is committed to protecting and preserving the environment through stewardship and timely reviews. In recent years, FHWA and our partners have made substantial contributions to the environment and to communities, through planning and programs that support wetland banking, habitat restoration, historic preservation, air quality improvements, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, context-sensitive solutions, wildlife crossings, public and tribal government involvement, and more.
 
FHWA will continue to support these programs while it also works with State, local, and Federal partners to conduct sound environmental reviews in a timely way.  With prompt decisionmaking, we can reduce project cost escalation, ease congestion, and deliver the transportation and safety improvements that the American public expects. The environment is everybody’s concern and at FHWA, it assumes a particular importance-one that touches virtually every aspect of highway planning, design, and construction.  For information on environmental streamlining, visit the FHWA Environmental Streamlining Web site.

Who We Are & What We Do Home | Previous | Next