Guide to the James J. McDonnell transportation collection C0104
James J. McDonnell transportation collection
George Mason University. Libraries. Special Collections Research Center
Fenwick Library, MS2FL4400 University Dr.
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Business Number: 703-993-2220
Fax Number: 703-993-8911
speccoll@gmu.edu
URL: https://scrc.gmu.edu
Eron Ackerman, Jordan Patty
Administrative Information
Use Restrictions
The copyright and related rights status of this collection have not been evaluated (See http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/)
Access Restrictions
There are no access restrictions.
Preferred Citation
James J. McDonnell transportation collection, C0104, Special Collections Research Center, George Mason University Libraries.
Acquisition Information
Collection donated by Laurie McDonnell through John Gifford in February 1996.
Processing Information
Processed by Special Collections Research CEnter 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. Finding aid updated by Amanda Menjivar in March 2024.
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. It is arranged into three series.
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 arrange into three series according to media format. Each series is arranged by subject.
Series 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)Related Material
The Special Collections Research Center holds many other collections on transportation and planning, particularly in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
- Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway (Va.)
- Highway engineering
- Photographic prints
- Photography -- Negatives
- Transportation -- United States -- Planning
- United States. Bureau of Public Roads
- United States. Federal Highway Administration
Significant Places Associated With the Collection
- Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway (Va.)
Container List
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."
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 1
Publications by J. J. McDonnell1986, 1995Scope and Contents note
Paper list of publications by McDonnell and summary of travel surveys
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 2
Census Data and Urban Transportation Planning in the 1980s1984Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 3
Use of Census Data in Urban Transportation Planning1971Scope and Contents note
Report of a conference held July 9-10, 1970
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 4
Analysis of Urban Highway Needs1988Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 5
The Graying of America and Its Implications for TravelSeptember 1, 1988Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 6
Supply and Use of the Nation's Urban HighwaysJune 1988Scope and Contents note
Draft
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 7
Continuing Transportation Planning Data Requirements1970Scope and Contents note
Prepared for a Highway Research Board Conference, June 9-10, 1970
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 8
Demand: Populations, Households, Employment ...ca. 1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 9
Review of Paper: "Things Won't Get a Lot Worse: The Future of US Traffic Congestion,"1990Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 10
Travel Characteristics in Urban Areas; Forecasting for Highways1958, 1960Scope and Contents note
Highway Research Board, Bulletins 203 and 257, facsimile
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 11
Tri-State Transportation Study: Home Interview Survey1964Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 12
Thesis Original: Development of Capacity Factors for Lane 2 in Constructionca. 1958Scope and Contents note
Includes photographs and map of Queens County Grand Central Expressway
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 13
Thesis Equipment and Data1958Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 14
BHT Thesis Analysis1958Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 15
Characteristics of Traffic on a 3 Lane One-Way Roadway Entering a 2 Lane Constriction1959Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 16
National Trends: Population, Employment and Vehicle Ownership1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 17
National Data Sources and Their Usefulness to Metro Area Planners1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 18
Reflections on the Passenger Flow Survey: Issues as Developed by Phil Fulton1993Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 1 folder: 19
Report of the Association of Public Data Users Conference (APDU)1986Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 1
List of Macdonald's SpeechesScope and Contents note
List of speeches by highway planner Thomas H. Macdonald from 1919 to 1952
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 2
National Conference on Decennial Census Data for Transportation Planning1984, 1993Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 3
Shirley Highway1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 4
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1960-1961Scope and Contents note
Contains two photographs mounted on paper
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 5
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 6
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1960-1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 7
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1960-1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 2 folder: 8
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1960-1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 1
Pentagon Area Transportation Study1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 2
Washington Bypass Study1989Scope and Contents note
Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT)
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 3
Virginia Shirley Highway Improvement - Preliminary EngineeringundatedScope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 4
New Jersey Citizens Highway Committee1962Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 5
The NCTA Plan for Transportation1962Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 6
Traffic Forecasting and Origin-Destination Trip Assignment Techniques1958, 1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 7
Use of the Telephone in Gathering Data in Transportation Studies1966Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 8
Bias Control of a Bus-Rider Origin-Destination Postcard Survey1967Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 9
Cost-Saving Techniques for Collection and Analysis of Origin-Destination Survey DataundatedScope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 10
The Ohio Procedure ... New Concepts in Home Interviews and Automatic Zoning for Origin-Destination Studies1966Scope and Contents note
Cleveland
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 11
Computer Coding of Origins and DestinationsundatedScope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 12
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Income1987Scope and Contents note
County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 13
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Rental Housing1987Scope and Contents note
County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 14
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Household Size1987Scope and Contents note
County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 15
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Employment1987Scope and Contents note
County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Mixed Materials box: 3 folder: 16
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Households with Children1987Scope and Contents note
County of Fairfax, Virginia
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 1
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Age1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 2
1986 Household Survey Special Report on Mobility1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 3
Recent Origin-Destination Surveys and Data Collection in North Carolinaca. 1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 4
Sampling Strategies for Small Sample Surveys1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 5
Metropolitan Planning for Land Use and Transportation1959Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 6
Toll Roads and Free Roads1939Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 7
Evolution of Urban Transportation Planning1976Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 8
Work of the Public Roads Administration1949Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 9
Work of the Public Roads Administration1947Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 10
Public Roads Administration1944Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 11
Public Roads Administration1946Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 12
Twentieth-Century Experience in Urban Transit1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 13
Highway Statistics1945Scope and Contents note
Public Roads Administration
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 14
Transportation for Urban America1967Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 15
Highways1987-1988Scope and Contents note
Report
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 16
Changes in Mobility in American Cities1970Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 17
Highways and Urban Development1965Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 18
Variation of Driver Characteristics at IntersectionsScope and Contents note
Unpublished study
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 19
National Highway Needs Study: Nature of Urban Transportation Problem1967Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 4 folder: 20
Express Highways in the United States1945Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 1
Highway Travel Forecasts1979Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 2
Private Sector Involvement in Virginia's Nineteenth Century Transportation Improvement ProgramundatedScope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 3
Changes in Urban Areas1987Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 4
Rapid Transit in the United States1967Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 5
Review of Papers for Theme II: Urban Transportation and Its Future1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 6
Highway Needs After 19721966Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 7
Urban Transportation Planning Procedure1961Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 8
Special Reports on Major Business Problemsca. 1964Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 9
Transportation Data Needs: Programs for a New Era, Proceedings of a Conference1993Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 10
Recommendations for the South Leg Freeway Alignment; Recommendations for a Freeway in the Northern Sector; Recommended action on North Leg Freeway1970Scope and Contents note
District of Columbia Department of Highways and Traffic,
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 11
Rail Rapid Transit for the Nation's Capital1965Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 12
The Regional Development Guide1966Scope and Contents note
National Capital Regional Planning Council
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 13
Public Roads, a Journal for Highway Research, Vol. 30, No. 71959Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 14
Transportation Planning in the District of Columbia, 1955-19651966Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 5 folder: 15
Secretary Skinner Salutes James McDonnell on Veterans Day1990
This series contains photographs, negatives, and presentation slides of various junctures on the northbound and southbound routes of Shirley Memorial Highway. Some of the photographs show heavy traffic on Shirley Highway and the bridge leading to US 1.
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 1-9
Shirley Highway - H Road Southbound from Ridge Road to US 11960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 10-21
Mt. Vernon Highway - Alexandria to Key Bridge1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 21-23
Shirley Highway - H Road Southbound from Ridge Road to US 11960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 23-26
End of B Road from Arlington Blvd. to Memorial Bridge1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 27-29
Shirley Highway - H Road Northbound from US 1 to Ridge Road1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 30-35
Start of Shirley Highway Northbound from Rt. 7 to 14th St. Bridge1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 35-41
End of Shirley Highway Southbound1960Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 6 page: 41-63
Miscellaneous photographs, mostly of Shirley Highway1960Scope and Contents note
Photos show highway and bridge traffic
- Mixed Materials box: 7 page: 1-3
Shirley Highway and Rt. 11949-1952Scope and Contents note
5" x 7" photographs
- Mixed Materials box: 7 page: 4-24
Shirley Highway1950-1952Scope and Contents note
8.5" x 11" photos of highway traffic in different weather conditions
- Mixed Materials box: 7 page: 25-27
Shirley Highwayca. 1950-1960Scope and Contents note
Negatives
- Mixed Materials box: 7 page: 28-34
Images from presentations on transportation planning1960s-1970sScope and Contents note
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"
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.
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 1
The Region's GrowthMay 1967Scope and Contents note
Regional Plan Association
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 2
Urban Transit Development in Twenty Major CitiesMarch 1968Scope and Contents note
Automotive Safety Foundation
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 3
What Freeways Mean to Your CityJanuary 1964Scope and Contents note
Automotive Safety Foundation
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 4
Urban Freeway DevelopmentAugust 1964Scope and Contents note
Automotive Safety Foundation
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 5
Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, Vol. 4: A Recommended Highway Improvement Program1952Scope and Contents note
Regional Highway Planning Committee
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 6
Public Participation in Regional PlanningOctober 1967Scope and Contents note
Regional Plan Association
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 7
Baltimore Area Mass Transportation Plan: Phase II-Long-Range ProgramOctober 1965Scope and Contents note
Metropolitan Transit Authority of Maryland
- Mixed Materials box: 8 folder: 8
Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway Improvement: Bus Facility StudySeptember 1964Scope and Contents note
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 1
F.A.I Route 95 Cost Summary SheetsScope and Contents note
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 2
Henry G. Shirley Memorial Highway Improvement: Preliminary Engineering ReportJuly 1962Scope and Contents note
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Highways
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 3
Transportation Plan: National Capital Region, The Mass Transportation Survey Report1959Scope and Contents note
National Capital Planning Commission, National Capital Regional Planning Council
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 4
Atlas of New York City: Five Boroughs, No.1445Scope and Contents note
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 5
Mass Transportation Survey National Capital Region: Civil Engineering ReportJanuary 1959Scope and Contents note
National Capital Planning Commission, National Capital Regional Planning Council
- Mixed Materials box: 9 folder: 6
Mass Transportation Survey National Capital Region:Traffic Engineering Study1958Scope and Contents note