ITE Journal - May 2020 - 22

Looking Back:
Transportation through the Decades
In celebration of ITE's 90th
anniversary, throughout 2020
ITE Journal will feature a monthly
snapshot of the transportation
industry by decade, beginning
with the turn of the 20th century
through present day. These are the
technologies, events, and key players

1960s

With the creation of the U.S. Department of Transportation in 1967, the government further
institutionalized federal oversight of transportation in the 1960s.

ITE Growth Soars
National transportation legislation in the early 1960s opened up a vast area of employment
to potential Institute members. According to ITE historical documents, "The federal interstate
program had been geared up and the comprehensive transportation planning activities were
mandated in all major urban regions of the United States; the membership grew by leaps and
bounds as practitioners in those newly related fields were acknowledged to be truly professionals and were rapidly admitted to ITE ranks."

that transformed transportation to

San Francisco Public Works

State of Tennessee Department of Highways

bring us where we are today.

Wiley "Bird Cage" Traffic Signal, 1931-1962:
Ralph Wiley patented this electromechanical
signal in 1925, with a green light on "Side A"
and a red light on "Side B." A July 1962 memo
from San Francisco Public Works marked
the occasion of its removal. "This faithful
sentinel...will be replaced by modern 3-light
traffic signal equipment."
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May 2020

i te j o urnal

View of Nashville, TN, USA, 1963: "The attached picture gives a view looking easterly along
Interstate Route 40 approaching Nashville from the west. Due to the hilly terrain and the built-up
suburban characteristics, requiring a number of separations at cross-roads, the construction costs
of this 5.0 mile section was approximately one million dollars per mile. The 1975 projected traffic is
20,100 vehicles per day. A twenty-mile continuous section west of Nashville from US-70 north to SR96 was opened to traffic in December 1962." - from Material for Public Roads Annual Report, Fiscal
Year 1963. Tennessee Project: I-40-3(14)196, Davidson County.

First Female Federal Highway Engineer - 1962
Beverly Cover becomes the first woman highway engineer to join the Bureau of Public Roads,
the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration.

ITE Journal - May 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ITE Journal - May 2020