Oregon Department of Transportation
Encyclopedia
The Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) is a department
of the state government
of the U.S. state
of Oregon
responsible for systems of transport
ation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway Commission, was created by an act of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
in 1913. It works closely with the five member Oregon Transportation Commission (the modern name of the Highway Commission) in managing the state's transportation systems.
The Oregon Transportation Commission, formerly the Oregon State Highway Commission, is a five-member governor-appointed government agency
that manages the state highway
s and other transportation in the U.S. state
of Oregon
, in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Oswald West
, Secretary of State
Ben W. Olcott
and Treasurer Thomas B. Kay
. On January 12, 1915 James Withycombe
became Governor and replaced Oswald West on the commission. The 1917 Oregon Legislative Assembly
redesigned the State Highway Commission, with citizens appointed to replace the elected officials.
The new commissioners held their first meeting on March 6, and the commission was then known as the Oregon Highway Division. As Oregon's transportation needs started to grow the division expanded, and in 1919 it employed their first State Bridge Engineer, Conde McCullough
.
s for a population of 783,389, and by 1932 the work that had been started on the Oregon Coast Highway (also known as U.S. Route 101) in 1914 was completed, except for five bridges, which meant greater responsibility for the division. This work was complete when the construction of the bridges over the Yaquina
, Alsea
, Siuslaw
, and Umpqua
rivers and Coos Bay
were completed, closing the last gaps on the highway. By 1940, the highway division was managing more than 7000 miles (11,265.4 km) of state, market and country roads in Oregon, with nearly 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) being hard surfaced.
, Oregon was affected by massive flooding and the division was forced to close U.S. Route 99 and several bridges in the area. According to the Medford Mail Tribune
, the division's Highway Engineer, Forrest Cooper, said 28 highway bridges were out and many highways looked doubtful whether they would continue to be opened.
by using half-a-ton of dynamite to blast it off the beach, as one might remove a boulder. They were given responsibility for this task because Oregon beaches were designated as highways when the division was initially formed. This became known as the exploding whale
incident.
Ministry (government department)
A ministry is a specialised organisation responsible for a sector of government public administration, sometimes led by a minister or a senior public servant, that can have responsibility for one or more departments, agencies, bureaus, commissions or other smaller executive, advisory, managerial or...
of the state government
Government of Oregon
The government of the U.S. state of Oregon, as prescribed by the Oregon Constitution, is composed of three government branches: the executive, the legislative, and the judicial...
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
responsible for systems of transport
Transport
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, cattle, animals and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail, road, water, cable, pipeline, and space. The field can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles, and operations...
ation. It was first established in 1969. It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway Commission, was created by an act of the Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
in 1913. It works closely with the five member Oregon Transportation Commission (the modern name of the Highway Commission) in managing the state's transportation systems.
The Oregon Transportation Commission, formerly the Oregon State Highway Commission, is a five-member governor-appointed government agency
Government agency
A government or state agency is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an intelligence agency. There is a notable variety of agency types...
that manages the state highway
State highway
State highway, state road or state route can refer to one of three related concepts, two of them related to a state or provincial government in a country that is divided into states or provinces :#A...
s and other transportation in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Inception
The first State Highway Commission was created on August 12, 1913 and was composed of GovernorGovernor of Oregon
The Governor of Oregon is the top executive of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon. The title of governor was also applied to the office of Oregon's chief executive during the provisional and U.S. territorial governments....
Oswald West
Oswald West
Oswald West was an American politician, a Democrat, who served most notably as the 14th Governor of Oregon. Called "Os West" by Oregon writer Stewart Holbrook, who described him as "by all odds the most brilliant governor Oregon ever had."- Early life and career :West was born in Ontario, Canada...
, Secretary of State
Oregon Secretary of State
The Secretary of State of Oregon, an elected constitutional officer within the executive branch of government of the U.S. state of Oregon, is first in line of succession to the Governor. The duties of office are: auditor of public accounts, chief elections officer, and administrator of public...
Ben W. Olcott
Ben W. Olcott
Ben W. Olcott was the 16th Governor of Oregon, U.S.-Early life:Olcott was born in Keithsburg, Illinois. He was educated at a Keithsburg elementary school and a business school in Dixon, later becoming a clerk in Chicago. In 1891, at age 19, he moved to Salem, Oregon, and became a roommate and...
and Treasurer Thomas B. Kay
Thomas B. Kay
Thomas Benjamin Kay was an American politician and businessman in the state of Oregon. A native of New Jersey, he moved to Oregon with his family at the age of one where he later took over the family’s woolen mill business...
. On January 12, 1915 James Withycombe
James Withycombe
James Withycombe was a British-born American politician, a Republican, and the 15th Governor of Oregon. Prior to entering politics he was farmer and sheep rancher in the Tualatin Valley, leading to appointment as the state's veterinarian and then as head of what became the Oregon State University...
became Governor and replaced Oswald West on the commission. The 1917 Oregon Legislative Assembly
Oregon Legislative Assembly
The Oregon Legislative Assembly is the state legislature for the U.S. state of Oregon. The Legislative Assembly is bicameral, consisting of an upper and lower house: the Senate, whose 30 members are elected to serve four-year terms; and the House of Representatives, with 60 members elected to...
redesigned the State Highway Commission, with citizens appointed to replace the elected officials.
The new commissioners held their first meeting on March 6, and the commission was then known as the Oregon Highway Division. As Oregon's transportation needs started to grow the division expanded, and in 1919 it employed their first State Bridge Engineer, Conde McCullough
Conde McCullough
Conde Balcom McCullough was a U.S. bridge engineer who is primarily known for designing many of Oregon's coastal bridges on U.S. Route 101. The native of South Dakota worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation from 1919 to 1935 and 1937 until 1946...
.
Achievements
By 1920 Oregon had 620 miles (998 km) of paved roads and 297.2 miles (478.3 km) of plank roadPlank road
A plank road or puncheon is a dirt path or road covered with a series of planks, similar to the wooden sidewalks one would see in a Western movie. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century...
s for a population of 783,389, and by 1932 the work that had been started on the Oregon Coast Highway (also known as U.S. Route 101) in 1914 was completed, except for five bridges, which meant greater responsibility for the division. This work was complete when the construction of the bridges over the Yaquina
Yaquina River
The Yaquina River is a river, approximately 50 mi long, on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of the Central Oregon Coast Range west of the Willamette Valley near Newport....
, Alsea
Alsea River
The Alsea River flows from Alsea, an unincorporated community in the coastal mountains of the U.S. state of Oregon, to the Pacific Ocean near the city of Waldport. It begins at the confluence of the North Fork Alsea River and the South Fork Alsea River and ends in Alsea Bay, a wide estuary at...
, Siuslaw
Siuslaw River
The Siuslaw River is a river, approximately 110 mi long, along the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States. It drains an area of approximately in the Central Oregon Coast Range southwest of the Willamette Valley and north of the watershed of the Umpqua River.It rises in the mountains...
, and Umpqua
Umpqua River
The Umpqua River on the Pacific coast of Oregon in the United States is approximately long. One of the principal rivers of the Oregon Coast and known for bass and shad, the river drains an expansive network of valleys in the mountains west of the Cascade Range and south of the Willamette Valley,...
rivers and Coos Bay
Coos Bay
Coos Bay is an S-shaped inlet where the Coos River enters the Pacific Ocean, approximately 10 miles long and two miles wide, on the Pacific Ocean coast of southwestern Oregon in the United States. The estuary is situated south of the Salmon River. The city of Coos Bay, once named Marshfield, was...
were completed, closing the last gaps on the highway. By 1940, the highway division was managing more than 7000 miles (11,265.4 km) of state, market and country roads in Oregon, with nearly 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) being hard surfaced.
Historical events
On Christmas Eve of 1964Christmas flood of 1964
The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood that took place in the Pacific Northwest of the United States between December 18, 1964 and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday.Considered a 100-year flood,...
, Oregon was affected by massive flooding and the division was forced to close U.S. Route 99 and several bridges in the area. According to the Medford Mail Tribune
Mail Tribune
The Mail Tribune is a seven-day daily newspaper based in Medford, Oregon, United States that serves Jackson County, Oregon, and adjacent areas of northern California....
, the division's Highway Engineer, Forrest Cooper, said 28 highway bridges were out and many highways looked doubtful whether they would continue to be opened.
Unusual events
Several unusual events occurred in the department's history. In 1958, the division changed its slogan to the unintentionally funny "Oregon Freeways. ..Symbol of 2nd Century Progress" and in 1967 ODOT celebrated its 50th anniversary, even though it was by then fifty-four years old. On November 12, 1970, the department gained notoriety after they attempted to dispose of a rotting beached sperm whaleSperm Whale
The sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, is a marine mammal species, order Cetacea, a toothed whale having the largest brain of any animal. The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermaceti, found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter...
by using half-a-ton of dynamite to blast it off the beach, as one might remove a boulder. They were given responsibility for this task because Oregon beaches were designated as highways when the division was initially formed. This became known as the exploding whale
Exploding whale
The term exploding whale most often refers to an event at Florence, Oregon, in 1970, when a dead sperm whale was blown up by the Oregon Highway Division in an attempt to dispose of its rotting carcass. The explosion threw whale flesh over away...
incident.
Directors
- John Fulton — July 1, 1969 – December 31, 1970
- George Baldwin — January 1, 1971 – June 30, 1971
- Sam Haley — July 1, 1971 – July 8, 1973
- George Baldwin — July 9, 1973 – April 30, 1976
- Bob Burco — May 1, 1976 – January 8, 1979
- Fred Klaboe — January 9, 1979 – December 31, 1981
- Fred Miller — January 1, 1982 – February 16, 1987
- Bob Bothrnan — February 17, 1987 – June 30, 1991
- Don Forbes — July 1, 1991 – 1995
- Grace Crunican — 1996 – 2001
- Bruce Warner — 2001 – 2005
- Matthew Garrett — December 19, 2005 – present
State Highway Engineers
- H.L. Bowlby — June 3, 1913 – March 31, 1915
- E. I. Cantine* — April 1, 1915 – May 21, 1915
- John L. Lewis — May 22, 1915 – August 27, 1915
- E. I. Cantine* — August 28, 1915 – January 19, 1916
- John L. Lewis — January 20, 1916 – April 10, 1917
- Herbert Nunn — April 10, 1917 – March 31, 1923
- Roy A. Klein — April 1, 1923 – February 28, 1932
- R.H. Baldock — March 1, 1932 – August 15, 1956
- W.C. Williams — August 16, 1956 – November 30, 1961
- Forrest Cooper — November 30, 1961 – June 30, 1970
- R.L. "Rod" Porter — July 1, 1970 – December 31, 1971
- Tom Edwards — January 1, 1972 – December 31, 1972
- I. Fred Klaboe — January 1, 1973 – May 31, 1976
- H. Scott Coulter — June 1, 1976 – August 4, 1985
- Lawrence W. Rulien —- September 9, 1985 – January 1, 1988
- Don Forbes — February 22, 1988 – January 31, 1992
- Bill Anhorn — February 1, 1992 – ??
- Cathy Nelson; Current
Slogans
- 1913 - "Get Oregon Out of the Mud"
- 1957 - "Building Oregon Thru Better Highways"
- 1958 - "Oregon Freeways. ..Symbol of 2nd Century Progress"
- 1961 - "Freeways are Easier"
- 1967 - "Fifty Years of Building Better Highways in Oregon" (not technically correct; the department was formed in 1913)
- 1978 - "Keep Oregon Green and in the Black"
- 1986 - "ODOT on the Move"
- 2006 - "The way to go!"
See also
- Glenn JacksonGlenn JacksonGlenn L. Jackson was a businessman in the U.S. state of Oregon, and an influential transportation planner in the state. He made a strong mark on the state as a 20-year member, and later chair, of the Oregon State Highway Commission, later known as the Oregon Transportation Commission...
, an influential 20 year member of the commission - Oregon Department of AviationOregon Department of AviationThe Oregon Department of Aviation is an agency of the government of the U.S. state of Oregon chiefly responsible for matters relating to the continuing development of aviation as part of the state's transportation system, and the safety of its airways...