T.A. Loving and Company Sites

The Franklin Road Bridge was paid for by the New Deal-era Public Works Administration during the Great Depression. The 363-foot span carries vehicular traffic over railroad tracks to eliminate dangerous train-car accidents. The Art Deco ornamentation on this bridge is not as ornate as that on bridges built in the 1920s, but featured lights that "used sodium vapor to illuminate the bridge at night." This was new to Roanoke in the 1930s. "The Virginian Railway and the City of Roanoke received federal funds to build bridges that would cross above railroad tracks and remove dangerous at-grade crossings. The Franklin Road and...