http://sca.gmu.edu/finding_aids/mcdonnell.html Guide to the James J. McDonnell transportation collection, 1939-1995 James J. McDonnell transportation collection C0104 FINDING AID AUTHOR George Mason University Libraries 2006 By George Mason University Libraries. All rights reserved. Machine-readable finding aid derived from being created directly into EAD, created by FINDING AID ENCODER, FINDING AID ENCODED DATE Description is in English 2019-02-13 Converted to schema conforming EAD by dtd2schema.vh.xsl. A Guide to the TITLE, DATES A Collection in Special Collections and Archives COLLECTION NUMBER FINDING AID AUTHOR George Mason University Libraries 2006 Special Collections and Archives Staff Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Descriptive Summary George Mason University. Special Collections and Archives. James J. McDonnell James J. McDonnell transportation collection 1939-1995 C0104 6 linear feet (9 boxes English The McDonnell collection contains materials related to McDonnell's work on the Shirley Highway project and other materials from his work at the United States Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Types of materials include correspondence, reports, government publications, black-and-white photographs, and 35mm black-and-white negatives. Administrative Information Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions on personal use. Permission to publish material from the James J. McDonnell transportation collection must be obtained from Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.

Preferred Citation

James J. McDonnell transportation collection, C0104, Special Collections and Archives, George Mason University Libraries.

Acquisition Information

Collection donated by Laurie McDonnell through John Gifford in February 1996.

Processing Information

Processed by Special Collections and Archives staff. Additional processing by Eron Ackerman in 2010. EAD markup completed by Eron Ackerman and Jordan Patty in August 2009. Additional EAD markup by Eron Ackerman in 2010.

Biographical Information

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.

Scope and Content

The McDonnell collection contains materials related to McDonnell's work on the Shirley Highway project and other materials from his work at the US Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) and Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Types of materials include correspondence, reports, government publications, black-and-white photographs, and 35mm black-and-white negatives.

Series 1: Printed Materials contains studies, reports, correspondence, and conference proceedings on highway and urban transportation planning mostly in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Included are statistical studies of the Public Roads Administration from the 1940s, reports on a Pentagon area transportation study from 1960-61, several Fairfax, Virginia household surveys from 1986, and McDonnell's 1958 Master's thesis, "Characteristics of Traffic on a 3 Lane One-Way Roadway Entering a 2 Lane Constriction."

Series 2: Photographs contains photographs, negatives, and presentation slides of various junctures on the northbound and southbound routes of Shirley Memorial Highway. Some of the pohotgraphs show heavy traffic on Shirley Highway and the bridge leading to US 1.

Series 3: Oversize contains oversized printed materials including transportation studies and reports. Some of the reports include maps of roadways in the National Capital Region and charts and graphs of traffic patterns.

Arrangement

This collection is divided into three series according to media format. Each series is arranged by subject.

Series 1: Printed Materials, 1939-1995 (Boxes 1-5) Series 2: Photographs, 1949-1960 (Boxes 6-7) Series 3: Oversize, 1959-1967 (Boxes 8-9) Adjunct Descriptive Data Related Material

Special Collections and Archives also holds many other .

Index Terms Corporate Names: United States. Bureau of Public Roads. United States. Federal Highway Administration. Geographical Names: Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway (Va.)--Photographs. Subjects: Highway engineering--United States. Transportation--United States--Planning. Document Types: Negatives. Photographic prints. Contents List Series 1: Printed Materials, 1939-1995 5 boxes

This series contains studies, reports, correspondence, and conference proceedings on highway and urban transportation planning mostly in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Included are statistical studies of the Public Roads Administration from the 1940s, reports on a Pentagon area transportation study from 1960-61, several Fairfax, Virginia household surveys from 1986, and McDonnell's 1958 Master's thesis, "Characteristics of Traffic on a 3 Lane One-Way Roadway Entering a 2 Lane Constriction."

1 1 Publications by J. J. McDonnell, 1986, 1995

Paper list of publications by McDonnell and summary of travel surveys

1 2 Census Data and Urban Transportation Planning in the 1980s, 1984

1 3 Use of Census Data in Urban Transportation Planning, 1971

Report of a conference held July 9-10, 1970

1 4 Analysis of Urban Highway Needs, 1988

1 5 The Graying of America and Its Implications for Travel, September 1, 1988

1 6 Supply and Use of the Nation's Urban Highways, June 1988

Draft

1 7 Continuing Transportation Planning Data Requirements, 1970

Prepared for a Highway Research Board Conference, June 9-10, 1970

1 8 Demand: Populations, Households, Employment ..., ca. 1987

1 9 Review of Paper: "Things Won't Get a Lot Worse: The Future of US Traffic Congestion," 1990

1 10 Travel Characteristics in Urban Areas; Forecasting for Highways, 1958, 1960

Highway Research Board, Bulletins 203 and 257, facsimile

1 11 Tri-State Transportation Study: Home Interview Survey, 1964

1 12 Thesis Original: Development of Capacity Factors for Lane 2 in Construction, ca. 1958

Includes photographs and map of Queens County Grand Central Expressway

1 13 Thesis Equipment and Data, 1958

1 14 BHT Thesis Analysis, 1958

1 15 Characteristics of Traffic on a 3 Lane One-Way Roadway Entering a 2 Lane Constriction, 1959

1 16 National Trends: Population, Employment and Vehicle Ownership, 1987

1 17 National Data Sources and Their Usefulness to Metro Area Planners, 1987

1 18 Reflections on the Passenger Flow Survey: Issues as Developed by by Phil Fulton, 1993

1 19 Report of the Association of Public Data Users Conference (APDU), 1986

2 1 List of Macdonald's Speeches

List of speeches by highway planner Thomas H. Macdonald from 1919 to 1952

2 2 National Conference on Decennial Census Data for Transportation Planning, 1984, 1993

2 3 Shirley Highway, 1960

2 4 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1960-1961

Contains two photographs mounted on paper

2 5 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1961

2 6 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1960-1961

2 7 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1960-1961

2 8 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1960-1961

3 1 Pentagon Area Transportation Study, 1960

3 2 Washington Bypass Study, 1989

Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)

3 3 Virginia Shirley Highway Improvement - Preliminary Engineering, undated

3 4 New Jersey Citizens Highway Committee, 1962

3 5 The NCTA Plan for Transportation, 1962

3 6 Traffic Forecasting and Origin-Destination Trip Assignment Techniques, 1958, 1961

3 7 Use of the Telephone in Gathering Data in Transportation Studies, 1966

3 8 Bias Control of a Bus-Rider Origin-Destination Postcard Survey, 1967

3 9 Cost-Saving Techniques for Collection and Analysis of Origin-Destination Survey Data, undated

3 10 The Ohio Procedure ... New Concepts in Home Interviews and Automatic Zoning for Origin-Destination Studies, 1966

Cleveland

3 11 Computer Coding of Origins and Destinations, undated

3 12 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Income, 1987

County of Fairfax, Virginia

3 13 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Rental Housing, 1987

County of Fairfax, Virginia

3 14 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Household Size, 1987

County of Fairfax, Virginia

3 15 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Employment, 1987

County of Fairfax, Virginia

3 16 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Households with Children, 1987

County of Fairfax, Virginia

4 1 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Age, 1987

4 2 1986 Household Survey Special Report on Mobility, 1987

4 3 Recent Origin-Destination Surveys and Data Collection in North Carolina, ca. 1987

4 4 Sampling Strategies for Small Sample Surveys, 1987

4 5 Metropolitan Planning for Land Use and Transportation, 1959

4 6 Toll Roads and Free Roads, 1939

4 7 Evolution of Urban Transportation Planning, 1976

4 8 Work of the Pulbic Roads Administration, 1949

4 9 Work of the Public Roads Administration, 1947

4 10 Public Roads Administration, 1944

4 11 Public Roads Administration, 1946

4 12 Twentieth-Century Experience in Urban Transit, 1960

4 13 Highway Statistics, 1945

Public Roads Administration

4 14 Transportation for Urban America, 1967

4 15 Highways, 1987-1988

Report

4 16 Changes in Mobility in American Cities, 1970

4 17 Highways and Urban Development, 1965

4 18 Variation of Driver Characteristics at Intersections,

Unpublished study

4 19 National Highway Needs Study: Nature of Urban Transportation Problem, 1967

4 20 Express Highways in the United States, 1945

5 1 Highway Travel Forecasts, 1979

5 2 Private Sector Involvement in Virginia's Nineteenth Century Transportation Improvement Program, undated

5 3 Changes in Urban Areas, 1987

5 4 Rapid Transit in the United States, 1967

5 5 Review of Papers for Theme II: Urban Transportation and Its Future, 1961

5 6 Highway Needs After 1972, 1966

5 7 Urban Transportation Planning Procedure, 1961

5 8 Special Reports on Major Business Problems, ca. 1964

5 9 Transportation Data Needs: Programs for a New Era, Proceedings of a Conference, 1993

5 10 Recommendations for the South Leg Freeway Alignment; Recommendations for a Freeway in the Northern Sector; Recommended action on North Leg Freeway, 1970

District of Columbia Department of Highways and Traffic,

5 11 Rail Rapid Transit for the Nation's Capital, 1965

5 12 The Regional Development Guide, 1966

National Capital Regional Planning Council

5 13 Public Roads, a Journal for Highway Research, Vol. 30, No. 7, 1959

5 14 Transportation Planning in the District of Columbia, 1955-1965, 1966

5 15 Secretary Skinner Salutes James McDonnell on Veterans Day, 1990

Series 2: Photographs, 1949-1970s 2 boxes

This series contains photographs, negatives, and presentation slides of various junctures on the northbound and southbound routes of Shirley Memorial Highway. Some of the pohotgraphs show heavy traffic on Shirley Highway and the bridge leading to US 1.

6 1-9 Shirley Highway - H Road Southbound from Ridge Road to US 1, 1960

6 10-21 Mt. Vernon Highway - Alexandria to Key Bridge, 1960

6 21-23 Shirley Highway - H Road Southbound from Ridge Road to US 1 1960

6 23-26 End of B Road from Arlington Blvd. to Memorial Bridge, 1960

6 27-29 Shirley Highway - H Road Northbound from US 1 to Ridge Road, 1960

6 30-35 Start of Shirley Highway Northbound from Rt. 7 to 14th St. Bridge, 1960

6 35-41 End of Shirley Highway Southbound, 1960

6 41-63 Miscellaneous photographs, mostly of Shirley Highway, 1960

Photos show highway and bridge traffic

7 1-3 Shirley Highway and Rt. 1, 1949-1952

5" x 7" photographs

7 4-24 Shirley Highway, 1950-1952

8.5" x 11" photos of highway traffic in different weather conditions

7 25-27 Shirley Highway, ca. 1950-1960

Negatives

7 28-34 Images from presentations on transportation planning, 1960s-1970s

Slides; includes dozens of slides for DC area studies and 91 slides from Upstate New York studies "for Crighton's AASHO talk at Portland, Oregon"

Series 3: Oversize, 1959-1968 2 boxes

This series contains oversized printed materials including transportation studies and reports. Some of the reports include maps of roadways in the National Capital Region and charts and graphs of traffic patterns.

8 1 The Region's Growth, May 1967

Regional Plan Association

8 2 Urban Transit Development in Twenty Major Cities, March 1968

Automotive Safety Foundation

8 3 What Freeways Mean to Your City, January 1964

Automotive Safety Foundation

8 4 Urban Freeway Development, August 1964

Automotive Safety Foundation

8 5 Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, Vol. 4: A Recommended Highway Improvement Program, 1952

Regional Highway Planning Committee

8 6 Public Participation in Regional Planning, October 1967

Regional Plan Association

8 7 Baltimore Area Mass Transportation Plan: Phase II-Long-Range Program, October 1965

Metropolitan Transit Authority of Maryland

8 8 Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway Improvement: Bus Facility Study, September 1964

Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways

9 1 F.A.I Route 95 Cost Summary Sheets,

Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways

9 2 Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway Improvement: Preliminary Engineering Report, July 1962

Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways

9 3 Transportation Plan: National Capital Region, The Mass Transportation Survey Report, 1959

National Capital Planning Commission, National Capital Regional Planning Council

9 4 Atlas of New York City: Five Boroughs, No.1445

9 5 Mass Transportation Survey National Capital Region: Civil Engineering Report, January 1959

National Capital Planning Commission, National Capital Regional Planning Council

9 6 Mass Transportation Survey National Capital Region:Traffic Engineering Study, 1958