Department of Transportation

Transportation, Department of, executive department of the U.S. government responsible for the development and coordination of national transport policies and agencies. Set up by the Department of Transportation Act (1966), it began operating the following year. It reports to Congress on the optimum use of federal transportation funds. It supervises the federal aviation, highway, railroad, and urban mass transportation administrations, the U.S. Coast Guard, the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, and the National Transportation Safety Board.