Congress appropriated $75 million over a five-year period, with the Secretary of Agriculture in charge through the Bureau of Public Roads, in cooperation with the state highway departments. In 1916, federal-aid was first made available to improve post-roads, and promote general commerce. Funding came from automobile registration, and taxes on motor fuels, as well as state aid. The American Association for Highway Improvement was organized in 1910. With the coming of the automobile after 1910, urgent efforts were made to upgrade and modernize dirt roads designed for horse-drawn wagon traffic.
Demands grew for local and state government to take charge. New York State took the lead in 1898, and by 1916 the old system had been discarded everywhere. The traditional method of putting the burden on maintaining roads on local landowners was increasingly inadequate. With the coming of the bicycle in the 1890s, interest grew regarding the improvement of streets and roads in America. It was then shifted to the Federal Works Agency which was abolished in 1949 when its name reverted to Bureau of Public Roads under the Department of Commerce.
The name was changed again to the Bureau of Public Roads in 1915 and to the Public Roads Administration (PRA) in 1939. In 1905, that organization's name was changed to the Office of Public Roads (OPR) which became a division of the United States Department of Agriculture. The Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was founded in 1893. The FHWA was preceded by several government departments and private organizations that oversaw the development of roads in the United States. Its role had previously been performed by the Office of Road Inquiry, Office of Public Roads and the Bureau of Public Roads. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program and the Federal Lands Highway Program. The Federal Highway Administration ( FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation.
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