Nevada. Department of Transportation

The increasingly interstate nature of economic life, the requirements of national defense, the dramatic growth of motor vehicle ownership, and the rise of tourism created a demand for a national highway network. The Office of Road Inquiry came into being in 1893 as part of the Department of Agriculture. It functioned as a fact-gathering and advisory agency until 1916, by which time it had become the Office of Public Roads and Rural Engineering.

A real highway program for Nevada had to await federal financial support. It came in the form of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. To be eligible to receive funding, a state had to have a highway department with adequate equipment and authority. In 1917, the Legislature, following Governor Emmet D. Boyle's recommendation, created a Department of HighwaysThe act doing so provided for three directors, to be appointed by the governor. A State Highway Engineer, appointive by the directors, was to attend their meeting and give "advice and counsel."

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