Oregon Department of Transportation
 | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1969 |
| Preceding agencies |
|
| Jurisdiction | Oregon |
| Headquarters | 355 Capitol Street NE,Salem, Oregon97301-3871 |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Oregon Transportation Commission |
| Website | oregon.gov/ODOT |
TheOregon Department of Transportation(ODOT) is adepartmentof thestate governmentof theU.S. stateofOregonresponsible for systems oftransportation.It was first established in 1969.[1]It had been preceded by the Oregon State Highway Department which, along with the Oregon State Highway Commission, was created by an act of theOregon Legislative Assemblyin 1913.[2]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-appointedgovernment agencythat manages thestate highwaysand other transportation in theU.S. stateofOregon,in conjunction with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Inception
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The first State Highway Commission was created on August 12, 1913, and was composed ofGovernorOswald West,Secretary of StateBen W. OlcottandTreasurerThomas B. Kay.On January 12, 1915,James Withycombebecame Governor and replaced Oswald West on the commission. The 1917Oregon Legislative Assemblyredesigned 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.
Events
[edit]By 1920, Oregon had 620 miles (998 km) of paved roads and 297.2 miles (478.3 km) ofplank roadsfor a population of 783,389 and, by 1932, the work that had been started on theOregon Coast Highway(also known asU.S. Route 101) in 1914 was completed, except for five bridges, which meant greater responsibility for the division.[3][4]This work was complete when the construction of the bridges over theYaquina,Alsea,Siuslaw,andUmpquarivers andCoos Baywere completed, closing the last gaps in the highway. By 1940, the highway division was managing more than 7,000 miles (11,300 km) of state, market and country roads in Oregon, with nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 km) being hard-surfaced.
In 2018, the city government ofPortland, Oregonand ODOT entered into an intergovernmental agreement in which the Portland city government takes over the cleanups of transient camps on ODOT right-of-way in select locations in Portland in exchange for payments from ODOT.[5][6]
In 2019, ODOT installed boulders at five locations in Portland to deter transient camps around the freeways. The installations have received support from neighbors while criticized by homeless advocacy groups.[7]
Exploding whale incident
[edit]On November 12, 1970, the department was tasked with disposing of a deadsperm whalethat washed ashore on the beach nearFlorence.The department exploded the dead whale using half a ton of dynamite to blast it off the beach. Pieces of dead whale went everywhere including the beach, bystanders, a parking lot and a park, severely damaging at least one car.[8]Willamette Weekreports "The decision to publicly dynamite an enormous mammal has become one of Oregon's all-time most bizarre moments."[8]
This became known as the "exploding whaleincident ".[9]
Directors
[edit] |
- 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 Bothman — 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 – June 30, 2019
- Kris Strickler — September 2019 – Present
Slogans
[edit]- 1913 - "Get Oregon Out of the Mud"[10]
- 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
[edit]- Glenn Jackson,an influential twenty-year member of the commission
- Oregon Department of Aviation
- State highways in Oregon
References
[edit]- ^History of ODOT
- ^Department of Transportation: Agency History,Oregon Blue Book.
- ^"Background Brief on Roads and Highways"(PDF).Oregon State Legislature.Archived(PDF)from the original on March 30, 2023.RetrievedJuly 27,2023.
- ^Places, Oregon; Manning, Clyde E.; Minor, Rick (2019)."Building the Oregon Coast Highway: An Oral History of the 1931–1932 Work Camp at the Cape Creek Bridge, Lane County, Oregon".Oregon Historical Quarterly.120(1): 102–123.doi:10.5403/oregonhistq.120.1.0102.ISSN0030-4727.
- ^Sparling, Zane."ODOT to pay Portland for homeless camp clean-ups".Retrieved2020-07-23.
- ^Harbarger, Molly (2018-12-20)."Portland taking over homeless camp cleanups for ODOT".oregonlive.Retrieved2020-07-23.
- ^Kruzman, Kruzman (2019-07-04)."Portland's homeless campers face new obstacle: piles of boulders".oregonlive.Retrieved2020-07-23.
- ^abJune, Sophia (October 3, 2016)."There Is Now Better Footage of That Time Oregon Blew Up a Whale With Dynamite".Willamette Week.Retrieved2020-07-23.
- ^"Exploding Whale Memorial Park to Honour Blubber That Was Blown to Bits in US 50 Years Ago".News18.Retrieved2020-07-23.
- ^Business Services History CenterArchived2012-01-02 at theWayback Machine
External links
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