Abstract :
The U. S. Department of Transportation was established to bring together in one place the government\´s major promotional and safety responsibilities in transportation. It provides the focal point for developing a system suited to the accomplishment of our transportation objectives while at the same time recognizing the necessary relationship of transportation to other social and economic objectives. The act (Public Law 89-670) creating the Department specifies as its declaration of purpose: "The Congress therefore finds that the establishment of a Department of Transportation is necessary in the public interest and to assure the coordinated, effective administration of the transportation programs of the Federal Government; to facilitate the development and improvement of coordinated transportation service, to be provided by private enterprise to the maximum extent feasible; to encourage cooperation of Federal, State, and local governments, carriers, labor, and other interested parties toward the achievement of national transportation objectives; to stimulate technological advances in transportation; to provide general leadership in the identification and solution of transportation problems; and to develop and recommend to the President and the Congress for approval national transportation policies and programs to accomplish these objectives with full and appropriate consideration of the needs of the public, users, carriers, industry, labor, and the national defense." In essence, then, the major functions of the Department are plannings, finding technical and economic solutions to all transportation policy problems, and assuring the safety of all transportation.
