The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) first official day of business was April 1, 1967. Alan S. Boyd, its initial secretary, took office on January 16, 1967.

DOT was established as a cabinet-level executive department of the U.S. government by an act of Congress, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law on October 15, 1966.

DOT’s primary responsibility is to shape and administer policies and programs to protect and enhance the safety, adequacy, and efficiency of the transportation system and its services.

In DOT’s 48 years of operation, technology has transformed the transportation industry. Advanced computer systems in air traffic control track thousands of flights per day, help control trains, and urban mass transit systems. Radar and new navigational technologies make ships travel safer. Dispatchers manage more trucks with increased efficiency. Computers hooked into satellite systems keep track of every barge, every train, every truck, and even every package in the system.

Technology will continue to change transportation and transportation will continue to change our lives. Yet, what will remain constant is DOT’s mission “to serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.”

Learn more about the history of DOT by visiting DOT’s National Transportation Library, Office of the Historian.

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