Born in 1930, James McDonnell worked as a civil engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1950s, then built an extensive career as a highway engineer for the Bureau of Public Roads (which would become the Federal Highway Administration). During his 33-year career with U.S. government transportation agencies, McDonnell was recognized as a national expert in transportation data collection and use. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he directed the Shirley Highway corridor study in Northern Virginia. His study led to the widening of the four-lane, World War II-era freeway into the first freeway with reversible high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes in the median. In 1964, McDonnell was called back to Washington to fill a key vacancy as Chief of BPR's Planning Procedure Branch. During his 20-year tenure in this position, he became nationally recognized for his many accomplishments, one of which was the development of a new Home Interview Survey Manual, that brought the practice of conducting surveys, and analyzing results into the computer age. He died in 1995.
From the description of James J. McDonnell transportation collection, 1939-1995. (George Mason University). WorldCat record id: 714896232
