Texas Highway Department Sites

The Adams Avenue Overpass is a 285 foot long steel stringer bridge that takes West Adams Avenue over multiple tracks of the former Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway (now BNSF Railway) in Temple, Texas. The bridge, which replaced an existing timber trestle structure, consists of six spans of steel I-beams resting on concrete abutments and bents. The United States Bureau of Public Roads provided funding for the bridge through a federal aid grade crossing program. The Texas Highway Department designed the bridge which was built by the Austin Bridge Company between July 1938 and April 1939 at a cost...

The Texas Highway Department and the Federal Works Agency Public Roads Administration built an overpass in 1941 to separate the grade of Airline Drive and the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway tracks. The overpass is currently open to traffic.

The Bosque River Bridge was constructed under a Works Progress Administration work-relief contract between 1940 and 1941. The bridge was as part of a larger project that created a new alignment of Texas State Highway 22 though Bosque County. The W.E. Worrell Company of Austin constructed the bridge and approaches, with work performed by WPA labor. Work began on the bridge in May of 1940 and finished the following December for the final cost of $98.002.88. This 566 long, steel I-beam bridge crosses the Bosque River west of Meridian, Texas. The bridge consists of a 265’ long four-span continuous span unit...

The Brady Creek Bridge is a 270 foot long, 50 foot wide steel stringer bridge that carries US Highway 377 (also called N Bridge St) across Brady Creek in Brady, Texas. Jensen Construction Co. Inc. built the bridge in 1939 under the supervision of the Texas Highway Department and the Public Roads Administration of the Federal Works Agency.

The Burr's Ferry Bridge is built over the Sabine River where Texas State Highway 63 and Louisiana State Highway 8 meet. The bridge consists of three Parker though truss spans and 34 concrete girder spans. At the time the bridge project was under consideration, the road was an "improved dirt road," reportedly impassable much of the year with a toll ferry across the Sabine River. Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act on April 8, 1935. This act gave Texas and Louisiana grant money for road and bridge construction. Projects funded under this act were subject to special labor provisions. Among...

The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built an underpass in 1939 to separate the grade of U.S. Route 79 and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad (currently Business U.S. Highway 79 and Union Pacific Railroad) in Taylor, Texas. The Texas Highway Department designed the bridge and L. H. Lacy Company constructed it.

The Deweyville Swing Bridge is built over the Sabine River where Texas State Highway 12 and Louisiana Highway 12 meet. The bridge is a deck plate girder swing design. The 160 foot main span pivots on top of a central pillar. Congress passed the Emergency Relief Appropriation Act on April 8, 1935. This act gave states grant money for road and bridge construction. The bridge opened on March 10, 1938. The bridge is opened manually by workers using a massive T-wrench inserted in a hole in the middle of the bridge and turned. Regular openings of the bridge ceased in the 1960s...

The Grassy Creek Bridge is a stringer type bridge that carried Texas State Highway 105 over Grassy Creek in Grimes County, Texas southeast of Navasota. The bridge was designed and financed by the Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads and built in 1934 by Edwin Artmann, contractor. A new bridge was built southwest of the old Grassy Creek Bridge and Highway 105 realigned to it. The old bridge is blocked to traffic. It is accessible by foot or bicycle but not attached to any trail or walkway.

The Guadalupe River bridge was built to replace a truss bridge built by DeWitt county in 1887 because the bridge suffered a "light load capacity and inadequate roadway width." Planning for the new bridge began with two preliminary site inspections by the Texas Highway Department (THD) conducted on July 15 and November 12, 1936, with the participation of United States Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) engineers. Rather than use a standard design, THD bridge engineers specially designed the bridge's riveted Parker truss span. The cost estimate was $310,700. THD submitted the estimate and the BPR approved it and appropriated 1937 Regular...

The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built the International & Great Northern Railroad (now Union Pacific) Underpass in 1937 to separate the grade between the railroad tracks and San Pedro Avenue in San Antonio, Texas.

The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built an underpass in 1935 to separate the grade between the Texas & New Orleans Railroad tracks and U. S. Highway 77 in Schulenburg, Texas.

Roadside picnic areas were created by the National Youth Administration in cooperation with the Texas Highway Department. Lyndon Baines Johnson was the first director of the Texas branch of NYA from 1935-37. Tables and benches were built of local materials, usually stone with concrete slab tops. The Newcastle park, constructed adjacent to the lake was part of the development of roadside parks in anticipation of the tourists and visitors to Texas for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. The original purpose was "to provide cool shade alongside tortuous highways navigated by Depression-era cars without air-conditioning" (Barnes, 2011). Only 41 parks remain...

The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads designed and financed several underpasses on Nogalitos Street in San Antonio, Texas. Built in 1937 by Brown & Root, the project took Nogalitos Street under Cassiano Street, The Texas & New Orleans Railroad tracks, Lachapelle Street, and the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad tracks. The street bridges were steel stringer design and the railroad bridges were steel plate girder design. The Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad tracks have been abandoned, but the other three bridges and the underpass are still in use.

The Oakland-Merlin Overpass is a 1,759 foot long overpass that currently carries Malcom X Blvd (formerly Oakland Ave.) over the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Railyard near downtown Dallas, Texas. The Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads oversaw the construction of the bridge with funding from the federal Emergency Relief Appropriation Act of 1935. The overpass originally separated the grade of Oakland Ave and Merlin St from the tracks of the Gulf Coast and Sante Fe Railway. Uvalde Construction co. built the bridge in 1937 using Works Progress Administration labor.

The National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Texas Highway Department created roadside picnic areas in Texas. The Gonzales park, constructed adjacent to U. S. Highway 183 near the south bank of the Guadalupe River was part of the development of roadside parks begun in 1935 in anticipation of tourists and visitors to Texas for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. The typically shaded areas of these roadside parks offered drivers and their passengers respite on hot summer days as cars of this era had no air conditioning. The Gonzales park is one of the few of the 674 parks...

The National Youth Administration (NYA) in cooperation with the Texas Highway Department created roadside picnic areas in Texas. The La Grange park, constructed adjacent to U. S. Highway 77 was part of the development of roadside parks begun in 1935 in anticipation of tourists and visitors to Texas for the 1936 Texas Centennial celebration. The typically shaded areas of these roadside parks offered drivers and their passengers respite on hot summer days as cars of this era had no air conditioning. The La Grange park is one of the few of the 674 parks constructed that remain and still has...

A disastrous flood in June 1935 washed away the existing highway bridge across the Llano River in Llano, Texas. The Texas Highway Department designed a new bridge in the fall of 1935 and built a new two-lane four-span Parker through truss bridge using Federal Emergency Relief funds made available through the Hayden-Cartwright Act of 1934, although no specific federal agency is noted for administration of the funds. The Austin Bridge Company constructed the bridge in 1936 at a cost of $155,724. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing structure to the Llano County Courthouse...

Record flooding of the Salt Fork Red River occurred on June 15, 1938, damaging the bridge for then State Highway 52 (now State Highway 203). Deemed unsalvageable by Texas Highway Department Engineers, plans were made for a replacement bridge. The funds for the bridge were jointly allocated by the Texas Highway Department and the Federal Works Agency, each of which committed $80,000. The new bridge was built seventy-five yards north of the previous bridge. This new location was chosen for its stable red clay and shale bedrock which would help prevent future flood damage. When letting for the contract was concluded,...

The bridges over the north and south forks of the San Gabriel River in Georgetown, Texas are identical designs of a cantilevered-suspended span type bridge, where a steel unit is placed between cantilevered arms projecting beyond the main supports of the bridge.The Texas Highway Department designed the bridges, and the state and the United States Bureau of Public Roads provided funding. Contractor Dean Word built the two 367-foot long bridges between 1939 and 1940. The bridges carry four lanes of traffic on North Austin Avenue and are the main north-south route over the rivers into the business section of Georgetown.

The South Llano River Bridge is a 1424 foot steel through truss bridge with a 24-foot wide roadway that carries Texas State Highway Loop 481 over the South Llano River in Junction, Texas. The bridge replaced a functionally obsolete truss bridge with a 14-foot roadway that flooding had damaged in 1935. Although repaired, the Texas Highway Department engineers felt a sense of urgency to replace the old bridge. The new bridge was built between 1936 and 1937 with federal aid funds. A bronze plaque embedded in the railing at each entrance to the bridge identifies the Texas Highway Department and...

The South Main Street Overpass is a bridge with an overall length of 1,335 feet including approaches that currently carries South Main Street over multiple BNSF Railway tracks near downtown Fort Worth, Texas. The Texas Highway Department oversaw the construction of the bridge under a special United States Bureau of Public Roads grade crossing program. The overpass originally separated the grade of South Main Street from the tracks of the Texas & New Orleans Railroad and the Gulf Colorado & Sante Fe Railway. Contractor Purvis & Bertram built the bridge from 1936 to 1937 for $257,000 using federal aid funds.

In 1937, the Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built two underpasses on South St. Mary's Street in San Antonio, Texas to separate the grade of South St. Mary's Street from the railway lines of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The Texas and New Orleans Railroad merged with Southern Pacific Railroad which was taken over by Union Pacific Railroad, which still uses the bridge. The Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad bridge is no longer in use and the railroad tracks have been removed.

The Sulphur Creek Bridge is a three span steel stringer bridge that carries U.S. Highway 281 over Sulphur Creek in Lampasas, Texas. W. W. Vann & C0. built the bridge in 1934 under the direction of the Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads.

The State Highway 19 Bridge at the Trinity River on the Walker/Trinity county line, consists of two 250-foot Parker through truss spans, one 150-foot Parker through truss span, and 51 steel I-beam approach spans with a special metal picket-type rail. The project was a joint effort of the Federal Works Agency, Public Road Administration, the Texas Highway Department, and Walker and Trinity Counties. Work on the bridge project began in late 1939. It was completed in January of 1941 and opened in March of that year. The bridge was bypassed in 2003 by a new four-lane bridge to the south,...

In 1936, the Texas Highway Department and the United States Bureau of Public Roads built an underpass to separate the grade of Wayside Drive and the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad (now Union Pacific).

The US 190 Bridge at the Colorado River conveys U.S. Highway 190 over the Colorado River at the Lampasas and San Saba county line west of Lometa, linking the cities of Lampasas and San Saba, the county seats. The Texas Highway Department (THD) designed the bridge. The bridge was constructed by Cage Brothers & L.A. Turner between 1939 and 1940. The Colorado River bridge was constructed to replace the former bridge, known as the Red Bluff Bridge, damaged in a severe flood in July 1938. The THD district engineer believed that the damaged bridge would be too costly to rebuild. THD...

The US 281 Bridge at the Brazos River is a through truss bridge consisting of one three-span continuous unit 656 1/2 feet long and 12 steel I-beam approach spans, each 40 feet long, for an overall length of 1,138 feet.The three spans form a continuous Warren truss with top chords resembling the curve seen in suspension bridges The bridge provides a crossing over the Brazos River on U.S. Highway 281 in southeastern Palo Pinto County. By September 1938, the Brazos River bridge project had been placed on the 1939 Regular Federal Aid Program. Texas Highway Department engineers designed the bridge. The...