The digitized portion of the collection includes over 600 negatives and photographs generated by the Department of Public Works and Buildings from 1930 to 1960, which preceded the Illinois Department of Transportation. The records include negatives and photographs of traffic intersections along some of Chicago’s major roadways, surveys of Chicago Transit Authority bus stations and bus routes, image and negatives of bridges and viaducts throughout Chicago, traffic control devices, traffic conditions and various projects conducted by Illinois’ leading transportation agency in 1930s to 1950s.
Created in 1971, the Illinois Department of Transportation is multi-modal transportation agency responsible for the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of Illinois’ extensive transportation network, which encompasses highways and bridges, airports, public transit, rail freight, and rail passenger systems. Currently the IDOT operates with its central headquarters in Springfield and has five transportation regions across the state. The IDOT organizational structure consists of ten supporting offices: Secretary of Transportation, Office of Planning and Programming, Office of Highway Project Implementation, Office of Intermodal Project Implementation, Office of Communications, Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Finance and Administration, Office of Business and Workforce Diversity, Office of Chief Counsel, Office of Internal Audit. The Department oversees the highway system with more than 16,000 miles of state administered highways including 2,182 miles of interstate, the second largest air transportation system in the nation with 480 private and 110 public airports, including one of the world's busiest airports, O’Hare International in Chicago, and the second largest railroad system in North America (Source: History of the Illinois Department of Transportation 1903-2013). Sources: The Illinois Department of Transportation Official Website - http://www.idot.illinois.gov/about-idot/idot-regions/)
The roots of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) can be traced to the turn of the 20th century. The establishment of the Illinois State Highway Commission in 1905 was regarded as a first step in centralizing and overseeing a statewide road system. The commission provided recommendations to the Illinois legislature that led to Illinois’s first speed limit and motor vehicle law, and also conducted surveys. In 1913 under pressure from the Illinois Highway Improvement Association and other groups, the Illinois legislature created the Illinois State Highway Department. In the same year Illinois legislators decided on major reorganizations of state agencies that led to the creation of the Department of Public Works and Buildings. The newly created department assumed the responsibilities of diverse collection of boards, commissions, and departments. Among these were the State Highway Department, State Highway Commission, Canal Commission, Rivers & Lakes Commission, Illinois Waterway Commission, Illinois Park Commission, Fort Massac Trustees, Lincoln 16 Governor Frank O. Lowden Homestead Trustees, Board of Commissioners of and for the Lincoln Monument Grounds, Superintendent of Printing, State Art Commission, and the State Inspector of Masonry.
In 1960s the growth of the Illinois population along with the increase in vehicles used placed great pressure on the state’s budget. With rising maintenance expenditures for the highway system, the state legislature designated the Illinois Highway Study Commission to investigate and formulate a highway plan for the state. At the recommendation of the Commission in 1971 the Illinois legislature approved the creation of the Illinois Department of Transportation. The newly formed department assumed the responsibilities of the Department of Public Works and Buildings, the Office of Mass Transportation from the Department of Local Government Affairs, and the safety inspection functions previously spread across the State Police, Secretary of State, Illinois Commerce Commission, and the Superintendent of Public Instruction. Not long after the department’s creation, lawmakers decided that additional reorganizing of IDOT was needed. On August 30, 1973, the Department of Aeronautics was abolished and its functions and responsibilities transferred to IDOT, becoming a new Division of Aeronautics within IDOT.
Source: “History of the Illinois Department of Transportation 1903-2013”, The Illinois Department of Transportation Official Website.