TxDOT History: 1917-1930

The Texas Legislature established the Texas Highway Department in 1917. This timeline lists major milestones and events during our history.

Present to 2001 | 2000 to 1971 | 1970 to 1951
1950 to 1931 | Through 1930

1930

• January – Fifty patrolmen begin training at Camp Mabry the following January.
• Department publishes its first manual on surveying and preparing plans, specifications and construction estimates.
• By the end of the fiscal year, the department completes 1,773 miles of new roadway, making improvements to 629 miles of existing roadway.
• Recognizing center stripes as an important safety feature, the department begins painting white lines down the middle of all its highways.
• Texas has 1,445,250 registered vehicles. Department abandons horsepower as the basis for registration fees and converts to a system based on vehicle weight.
• Department does its share to reduce the number of flat tires on Texas highways through the use of three specially designed nail-picking machines.

• Legislature increases gasoline tax to four cents a gallon, but reduces vehicle registration fees.
• Highway crews place more than 100,000 signs along Texas roadways according to standards set by the American Association of State Highway Officials.
• Road Design Division is organized.
• September 1 – Duties of the Highway Patrol expand to include traffic law enforcement.

• Department begins safety program to reduce employee on-the-job accidents.
• Highway Commission sets the maximum speed limit at 45 mph.
• Department oversees nearly 18,000 miles of roadway, including 96 miles of concrete, 1,060 miles of asphalt, 5,000 miles of gravel, shell or stone and 10,000 miles of dirt.

• With a new commission in place following Moody’s election as governor, the department undergoes a major reorganization. The department operates with a $28.7 million budget, has 17.960 miles of highway and 6,900 employees.
• Federal highway funding for Texas is restored, with the department receiving $10.2 million in construction reimbursement for fiscal 1928-1930.
• Legislature increases gasoline tax to three cents a gallon from March 1927 to September 1928, at which time it would be reduced to two cents a gallon.
• Legislature authorizes creation of Right of Way division and State Highway Patrol to enforce license and weight provisions.

• Attorney General Dan Moody exposes corruption in the Highway Commission and among some construction contractors, but his prosecution efforts are largely unsuccessful. Texas loses all federal highway aid from the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads because of poor maintenance.

1925

• In a case from Limestone County, Texas Supreme Court rules that ownership of roads invested in the state, not counties.
• Thirty-ninth Legislature vests the Highway Department with responsibility to survey, plan and build highways, as well as maintain them. Lawmakers also authorize the department to acquire highway right of way by purchase or condemnation.

• January 1 – Highway Department assumes responsibility for maintenance of all state highways. Prior to this time, roadway maintenance rests with the counties.
• Equipment Division moves to a corner of Camp Mabry, the National Guard post on the western edge of Austin.

• Department adds three new divisions: Construction (which supervises county engineers in design and construction), Equipment (which purchases equipment, materials and supplies), and Maintenance (to oversee general highway upkeep).
• Thirty-eighth Legislature passes Texas’ first gasoline tax – one cent a gallon. The State Highway Fund would receive 75 percent of the revenue with the rest going to the Available School Fund.
• Legislature sets terms of Highway Commission members at six years, with one seat becoming vacant every two years.
• Number of districts increases to 16, each controlling about 1,000 miles of state highway.
• Highway Commission sets the maximum speed limit at 35 mph.

• Congress amends Federal Aid to Roads Act of 1916 requiring states to take over exclusive control of road design, construction and maintenance after 1925.
• Department organizes into four divisions: Administrative (including the state highway engineer, clerical, auditing and bookkeeping); Registration (which handles the issuance and recording of motor vehicle licenses); Engineering (including materials and tests, bridge, maintenance, drafting and checking); and Federal equipment (which distributed surplus World War I equipment for road construction.)

• Eagle Lake headquarters moves to Bryan.

• May – Commission creates eight divisions (now districts) with Abilene, Amarillo, Austin, Dallas, Eagle Lake, El Paso, Fort Worth and San Antonio as headquarters. The Abilene office is moved to San Angelo later that year. Initially, only six district engineers are hired, with two engineers managing two districts for a time.
• Materials and Tests Division is established to examine the quality of materials used in roadway construction and to supervise testing at labs at the University of Texas and Texas A&M.

• October – Work begins on the department’s first new highway construction project, a 20-mile section of untreated flexible base between Falfurrias and Encino in Brooks County. The 16-foot wide roadway opens to traffic in June 1920.
• July – The department’s first paving project begins along a 25-mile stretch of roadway in Hays County, roughly following the route of future Interstate 35. Project features a single bituminous surface 2.5 inches thick, 15 feet wide.

• By the end of the year, the department registers 194,720 motor vehicles. Texas’ first license plates were manufactured by the Adams Stamp and Stationery Co. in St. Louis, MO. The plates, made of sheet iron, had white numbers on a blue background with the letters “TEX” stacked on the right edge. Stamped metal validation seals reading “Registered Motor Vehicle, Texas” had to be obtained each year and placed on a vehicle’s radiator.
• The department moves to a new state office building at the southeast corner of 11th and Brazos, across the street from the Travis County Jail.
• Commission designates a highway system of 8,865 miles of “improved roadways.” When completed, the department estimates, the system will make highways readily accessible to 89 percent of the state’s population.
• Highway Commission increases the speed limit to 25 mph.
• Texas A&M College hosts first short course for highway engineers. The college’s civil engineering department also offers a highway-engineering correspondence course.
• September – Three division engineers-at-large are hired. They set up headquarters at Mount Pleasant, Abilene and Austin – the department’s first field offices.
• August – When the Legislature convenes in special session, the Highway Department moves from the Capitol to the second floor of the General Land Office Building.
• June 21 – Commission conducts its first public hearing in Mineral Wells, with delegates from all Texas counties invited to present their views on potential highway routes. At the same meeting, the commission approves a department structure of six divisions with headquarters in Dallas, Fort Worth, Amarillo, Houston, San Antonio and San Angelo. For the time being, the districts are not activated.
• Commission sets vehicle registration fee at 35 cents per horsepower, with a minimum of $7.50.
• June 4 – The Texas Highway Commission meets for the first time in a corner of the House chamber in the Capitol. Commissioner J.C. Odle moves that George A. Duren be named the state’s first highway engineer. With no other space immediately available, the department’s 10 employees begin work in the House chamber. Registering all motor vehicles in Texas is the department’s first big project.
• April 4 – House Bill 2, creating the Texas Highway Department, is signed into law by Gov. James Ferguson. The measure vested a three-member commission with administrative control of the department. Members would be appointed to two-year terms by the governor, with consent of the Senate.

Present to 2001 | 2000 to 1971 | 1970 to 1951 | 1950 to 1931 | Through 1930