Guide to Federal Records

Records of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (Transportation)


(Record Group 467)
1965-93

Overview of Records Locations

Table of Contents

  • 467.1 Administrative History
  • 467.2 Records of the Volpe National Transportation Center (VNTSC) 1965-93

467.1 Administrative History

Established: In the Department of Transportation (DOT) as a separate operating administration, by Section 4 of the Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special Programs Improvement Act (118 Stat. 2425), November 30, 2004.

Predecessor Agencies:
  • Electronics Research Center (ERC), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, 1965-66)
  • ERC, Office of Advanced Research and Technology, NASA (1966-70)
  • Transportation Systems Center (TSC), Office of the Under Secretary of Transportation, DOT (1970-73)
  • TSC, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Systems Development and Technology (1973-77, to Research and Special Programs Directorate)
  • Office of Hazardous Materials (OHM), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology (OASRT), DOT (1967-70)
  • OHM, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Safety and Consumer Affairs (OASSCA), DOT (1970-73)
  • OHM, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Environment, Safety, and Consumer Affairs (OASESCA), DOT (1973-75, to Materials Transportation Bureau)
  • Office of Pipeline Safety (OPS), OASRT, DOT (1968-70)
  • OPS, OASSCA, DOT (1970-73)
  • OPS, OASESCA, DOT (1973-75, to Materials Transportation Bureau)
  • Materials Transportation Bureau, DOT (1975-77, to Research and Special Programs Directorate)
  • Research and Special Programs Directorate (RSPD), DOT (1977-78)
  • Research and Special Programs Administration, DOT (1978-2004)

Functions: Coordinates and advances transportation research efforts within DOT. Supports transportation professionals' research efforts through grants, consulting services, and training centers. Collects, analyzes, and makes available intermodal transportation statistics. Administers a departmentwide program to assist the Nation in making the transition from an oil-based to a hydrogen-based economy. Administers the University Transportation Centers program, by which DOT makes matching grants to universities and other research institutions for transportation-related educational, research, and technology transfer purposes.

Related Records:
Records of the Civil Aeronautics Board, RG 197.
General Records of the Department of Transportation, RG 398.
Records of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, RG 570.

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467.2 Records of the Volpe National Transportation Center
(VNTSC) 1965-93

History: Office of Hazardous Materials, responsible for research and development programs in the transportation of hazardous materials, established in Office of the Secretary of Transportation (OST), 1967, and assigned to OASRT. Pipeline safety research functions removed from OHM and assigned to newly established Office of Pipeline Safety in OASRT, 1968, with OPS also made responsible for implementing the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 1968 (82 Stat. 720), August 12, 1968. OHM and OPS transferred to newly established OASSCA, 1970, redesignated OASESCA, 1973. OHM and OPS separated from OASESCA and consolidated, July 1975, to form new separate operating administration, the Materials Transportation Bureau (MTB), with responsibility for implementing the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act (88 Stat. 2156), January 3, 1975.

Electronics Research Center established, 1965, in Cambridge, MA, as a component of NASA, with responsibility for research in instrumentation, communications, data processing, navigation, guidance, and control. Assigned to Office of Advanced Research and Technology, 1966. Transferred to DOT, July 1, 1970, assigned to Office of the Under Secretary of Transportation, and redesignated TSC. Transferred to Office of the Assistant Secretary for Systems Development and Technology, 1973.

By DOT Directive 1100.23A, Change 81, September 23, 1977, MTB and TSC consolidated to form new separate operating administration, the Research and Special Programs Directorate. Offices of Facilitation, Transportation Security, and University Research transferred from OST to RSPD by same directive. Also by same directive, Offices of Materials Transportation Law, Systems Engineering, and Noise Abatement abolished, with functions transferred from OST to RSPD.

Functions relating to the administration of transportation safety and research programs transferred from OST to RSPD and assigned to newly established Transportation Programs Bureau, December 1977. See 467.1.

Textual Records (in Boston): Numbered technical reports, 1970-92 (75 ft.). Program progress reports, 1970-87. Numbered directives, 1970-74, and notices, 1970-74. Research and development project files, 1975-90. Correspondence and other records relating to land acquisition and construction of the building acquired by DOT for VNTSC occupancy, 1965-71.

Machine-Readable Records: Airline service quality performance, 1987-92, with supporting documentation (7 data sets). Passenger ticket dollar value origin and destination survey, "Data Bank 1A," 1985-88, with supporting documentation (4 data sets). International and territorial directional origin and destination survey, "Data Bank 2A," 1986-88, with supporting documentation (3 data sets). Domestic directional origin and destination survey, "Data Bank 2C," 1986-88, with supporting documentation (3 data sets). City and airport nomenclature file, "Data Bank 5," 1987-88, with supporting documentation (1 data set). Service segment data, domestic and international, "Data Bank 23T," 1985-89, with supporting documentation (5 data sets). Combined service segment and T-9 data, "Data Bank 27T," 1984-89, with supporting documentation (6 data sets). T-100 domestic market data, "Data Bank 28DM," 1990-93, with supporting documentation (4 data sets). T-100 domestic segment data, "Data Bank 28DS," 1990-93, with supporting documentation (4 data sets). T-100(F) international market data, "Data Bank 28IM," 1990, with supporting documentation (1 data set). T-100(F) international segment data, "Data Bank 28IS," 1990, with supporting documentation (1 data set).

Related Records: Data Bank 1, Data Bank 1A, Data Bank 2A, Data Bank 2C, Data Bank 5, and Data Bank 23, 1968-85, in RG 197, Records of the Civil Aeronautics Board.

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Bibliographic note: Web version based on Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives of the United States. Compiled by Robert B. Matchette et al. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1995.
3 volumes, 2428 pages.

Ordering information

This Web version is updated from time to time to include records processed since 1995.


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