Verona Department of Transportation
 Logo of the Verona DOT | |
 The DOT headquarters in Georgetown. | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | 1 July 1948 |
| Preceding agency |
|
| Jurisdiction | Commonwealth of Verona |
| Headquarters | DOT Headquarters 801 Commonwealth Ave, Georgetown, VA 33001 |
| Employees | 35,172 |
| Annual budget | $83.5 billion |
| Agency executive |
|
| Parent agency | Verona Secretary of Transportation |
| Website | Official Website |
The Verona Department of Transportation (VDOT) is an executive department of the Commonwealth of Verona. The department is part of the cabinet-level Verona Transportation Agency (VTA). VDOT is headquartered in Georgetown. Though the public face of the agency is generally associated with the construction and maintenance of the commonwealth's immense state highway system, the agency is also responsible for overseeing aviation, rail, and public transportation systems. Before it was dissolved into its current departments, the Verona Highway Department also oversaw record of vehicles in the state, including but not limited to automobiles and cycles, and the identification record for ID cards in the commonwealth as well. This responsibility was transferred to the Verona Department of Motor Vehicles upon its creation in 1906.
History
The Verona General Assembly established the Commonwealth Highway Authority in 1891 as part of the Verona Engineering Department for the ease of access between the state's communities. It was the first such authority in Cartadania that was created for the sole purpose of maintaining the state's infrastructure, something typically left to local government. For the first two years of its existence, however, the department still solely acted as an advisory body to the 53 counties in the state, helping to assemble maps and other information on roads. In 1901, the state authorized the creation of the Bay Coastal Freeway, the state's first major highway, running from LaMarque to Vírgenes.
In 1909, the Verona General Assembly began requiring vehicle registration and allocated the resulting funds to support regular highway maintenance. That same year, the general assembly turned the Engineering Department into the Department of Public Works.
The history of VDOT and its predecessor agencies during the 20th century was marked by many firsts. It was one of the first agencies in Cartadania to paint centerlines on highways statewide; the first to build a four-level stack interchange; the first to develop and deploy non-reflective raised pavement markers, better known as Botts' dots; and one of the first to implement dedicated freeway-to-freeway connector ramps for high-occupancy vehicle lanes.
In July 1945, the Commonwealth Transportation Board proposed the creation of a state department of transportation charged with the responsibility "for performing and integrating transportation planning for all modes." Governor Noble mentioned this proposal in his 1947 State of the Commonwealth address, and Emissary Rodrigo D. Frances introduced Chamber Bill 80 to that effect, which was duly passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Noble later that same year. CB 80 merged three existing departments to create the Department of Transportation, of which the most important was the Department of Public Works and its Highway Authority. The Verona Department of Transportation began official operations on July 1, 1948.