National Recovery Administration (NRA) Sites

The bridge carrying the Jamaicaway over Huntington Avenue, near Brookline, was constructed with NIRA funds. The structure was renamed in 2017 for the sons of Boston Marathon bombing hero Carlos Arredondo.

The State of Texas erected a historical marker in 2009 to commemorate this New Deal resettlement community. The text reads: "Named for its location between Beaumont and Port Arthur, Beauxart Gardens was developed during the Great Depression by the U.S. Government as a federal subsistence homestead colony under the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. The act encouraged urban and rural workers to supplement their incomes through agriculture. Residents worked part-time at area refineries and kept gardens and livestock. One of five such colonies in Texas, Beauxart Gardens was located on fertile rice land and provided a total of 50 families...

There is a three page history of the pool in the Castine Historical Society newsletter by Lynn Parsons (winter 2011) detailing the role of the New Deal in bringing about this fine example of public recreation. According to a Selectman's report from March 2, 1934, the town voted $1,000 for a CWA project on land donated by Warren Hooper and William Bevan. It opened July 4, 1935 under the supervision of the Public Grounds Department, receiving considerable public support and was very popular with children. In 1937 the Public Grounds Dept. suggested the construction of a bath house. $1,967.55 was...

The September 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works reported on the construction of a road along the Coalinga Lateral in Monterey County: "On the Coalinga lateral between the Mustang Ridge and Priest Valley in Monterey County, a distance of about 3.3 miles, the road is being constructed with a 24-foot graded roadbed and a 20-foot selected material surface. It is anticipated that this work will be completed in February of next year. This project is financed under the National Industrial Recovery Act." The road appears to be what is now called the John McVeigh Jr. Memorial Highway.

A July 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works reported that the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) helped finance the improvement of 9 miles of the Coast Highway between King City and Greenfield by grading a 36-foot roadbed with 20-foot bituminous surface treatment. The project was completed July 1934.

Dedicated on June 23 1934, the Don Gaspar Bridge opened a new crossing to the emerging Capitol Complex south of the Santa Fe River. Designed in the Pueblo Revival manner, the bridge is important for consciously applying the so-called “Santa Fe style” to a utilitarian structure. Made of a rigid-frame design, the bridge was the first of its type in New Mexico and became the standard for subsequent spans over the Santa Fe River. Construction of the Don Gaspar Bridge is tied directly to a New Deal program aimed at improving municipal transportation during the Depression. Created by Executive order...

The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) helped finance the modernization of 4 1/2 miles of what is today State Route 1 and Interstate 101 through an unincorporated area 30 miles west of Santa Barbara from a twisty and dangerous 2 lane road into a 4 lane highway. The cost of construction was $65,000 per mile.

The station was begun in the 1931 as a fruit and vegetable research station. From 1933-1935, the site was expanded and new buildings constructed. The buildings were built by Public Works Administration from 1933 to 1935 with an allotment of $96,350. Funds were provided by Public Works under the National Industrial Recovery Act. The purpose of the allotment was fruit and vegetable disease research and auxiliary buildings devoted to sugar cane research. The Administration Office and Laboratory were built in 1933. After a new two-story brick and stucco administration building and laboratory was constructed 1935, the first administration office was...

Sitting one mile west of the city limit on the Reno Truckee highway (today West 4th Street). Most of the sand and gravel used in New Deal projects in Reno came from here. The CWA and NIRA gave the city of Reno $14248.00 for development and operation of this pit.

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the Federal-aid project no. F. A. P. 14-A for the construction and improvement of the Hawaii Belt Road, (Kapehu and Kaaluu Bridges) for the sum of $75,880.61. The road runs along the coast of, and around the island of Hawaii and consists of highways 11, 19, and 190.

In 1934, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) financed the construction of the first continuous highway across the city of Santa Barbara (roughly six miles), taking through traffic off city streets.  The route followed the Southern Pacific tracks. Along the new route, Mission Creek was channelized and several new bridges were built. At the time, it was called "the Roosevelt Highway", but was an extension of what was then commonly known as the Pacific Coast Highway.  Although Gibson (1934) attributes the funding to the NIRA, it was almost surely the Public Works Administration (PWA) – which was created as one part...

The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Honolulu Harbor between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of the enlargement of the “entrance channel to 40 feet deep and 500 feet wide, easing the curve where the entrance channel joins the inner harbor; deepening the harbor basin to 35 feet, for a general width of 1,520 feet; dredging to 35 feet along the reserved channel, a channel 900 feet wide and 1000 feet long, and thence a channel along the northerly side of the reserve channel 400...

The National Industrial Recovery Act was involved in the construction of this final portion of former intercontinental highway 60 (now, here in California, I-10) that used to stretch from Virginia to Los Angeles. The 24.3 mile Indio cutoff was built to cut 9 miles off the narrow and twisty Box Canyon road (route 64). The route rises from its westerly end near Indio at an elevation of 47 feet below sea level to a maximum elevation of 1688 feet at Shavers Summit, now known as Chiriaco Summit, formerly the location of General Pattons tank training facility ('42 - '44) and...

“United States Public Works project no. NRH-9-A, a section of Kamehameha Highway known as the 'Puuloa-Aiea Cut-off' for the sum of $387,099.84; United States Public Works project no. NRH-7-C (reopened) and no. NRH-7-D (reopened), a section of Kamehameha Highway, for the sum of $51,866.62; Federal-aid project no. F. A. P. 7-F (reopened) and E-7-F, a section of Kamehameha Highway at Kipapa Gulch, for the sum of $37,244.67; United States Public Works project no. NRH-7-E, Kamehameha Highway, Waialua District, so-called 'Thompson's Corner', for the sum of $58,313.30 "

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the “United States Public Works project no. NRH-12-B, Kauai Belt Road for the sum of $354,355.63.” The two-lane highway continues to serve as the primary thoroughfare between most inhabited communities on the island.

The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Kaunakakai Harbor on Molokai, between 1933 and 1934. The work consisted of the “dredging of a harbor basin about 1,500 feet long, 600 feet wide, and 23 feet deep at mean lower low water.” The estimated cost of the work in 1933 was $120,000. The estimated cost for annual maintenance was $5,000.

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the "Federal-aid project no. F. A. P. 11-B and United States Public Works project no. NRH-ll-C, Kawaihae Road, for the sum of $251,579” for the construction and improvement of the Kawaihae Road on the island of Hawaii.

" United States Public Works project no. NRH-16-A, known as the 'Kunia Road', for the sum of $388,585.26. The Kunia Road runs from Schofield Barracks to the Ewa-Waianae Road, a distance of 7.81 miles, and is a road long wanted by the military authorities as being very important in the national defense plans. At the Schofield end, it joins Kamehameha Highway by way of Wright Avenue."

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the “United States Public Works project no. NRH-13-B, Maalaea Airport Spur, for the sum of $25,574.76.” The airport was closed permanently in 1939.

The Army Corps of Engineers, with funds from the National Industrial Recovery Act, carried out improvements in the Mayagüez Harbor.

In 1934, the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA)/Public Works Administration (PWA) financed the construction of the first continuous highway across the city of Santa Barbara (roughly six miles), taking through traffic off city streets.  The route followed the Southern Pacific tracks. Along the new route, Mission Creek was channelized and several new bridges were built. Today, the highway is jointly State Route 1 and Interstate 101.  While it seems to follow the route built in the 1930s, it has been altered by subsequent expansions by the state department of highway.  It is not clear what – if any – portions of...

"President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided a work force, which pushed the Modoc Forest development work years ahead. A special camp was built at Hackamore in 1933 and maintained there almost until the abandonment of the Corps in 1942. Spike camps from this main camp were established when necessary but the gentle nature of the Modoc terrain allowed workers from the main camp to reach out much further than in the average forest area... ...By the end of 1933 there were some thirty sizeable CWA crews working out from their homes on Modoc Forest projects. A large number...

The March 1934 issue of California Highway and Public Works reported on the widening of the Pacific Coast Highway (now US 101) at Ortega Hill near Summerland CA in Santa Barbara County: "In Santa Barbara County on the Coast Highway between Summerland and Sheffield Drive, locally known as Ortega Hill, the 30 foot pavement is being widened for a distance of 0.6 of a mile with a 10 foot cement concrete pavement strip on a 56 foot roadbed. This project comes under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933. It is expected the work will be completed in...

The National Industrial Recovery Administration awarded the “United States Public Works project no. NRH-17-A, Paia Spur, for the sum of $177,717.69.”

The Army Corps of Engineers, the Public Works Administration, and the National Industrial Recovery Administration funded and conducted improvement operations in the Port Allen Harbor between 1934 and 1935. The work consisted of creating a 1,200 foot “rubble-mound breakwater,” and dredging the “harbor basin about 1,000 feet wide, 1,500 feet long, and 35 feet deep; and an entrance channel 500 feet wide and 35 feet deep.” The estimated cost of the work in 1933 was $ 880,000 for new work, of which 200,000 was the contribution of local entities. The estimated cost for annual maintenance was $15,000. In October 1935, about $680,000 were...

Funded by the National Industrial Recovery Act, the construction of the Ventura overhead structure separated the grade of the main line of the Southern Pacific Company and the Coast Route of the State highway. Located about three miles north of the city of Ventura, this work consisted of a steel and concrete structure carrying the highway at an elevated grade over the railroad tracks. It was part of a major project for reconstruction and improvement of the Slate highway from Ventura northerly to Santa Barbara County. Designed in part to ameliorate high local unemployment, the project as a whole addressed deteriorating...

In 1933-34, the California State Highway Department expanded and paved a two-mile section of the road behind the town of Carmel (now Highway 1) from the top of the hill down to the Carmel River.  They also built the first concrete bridge across the Carmel River. The work was paid for by the Public Works Administration (PWA), or as it was officially known when created under the National Recovery Act of 1933, the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works. This section of highway has been expanded further and repaved in recent years and the Carmel River bridge has been replaced with a...

One-and-a-half miles of the Roosevelt Highway (today Cabrillo Highway) between Molera's Ranch and Big Sur were constructed with a 24-foot-wide road financed by the National Industrial Recovery Act (N.I.R.A.). Start date: Jan. 1934; completion date: Jun. 1934.

A 1934 issue of California Highway & Public Works reported that, "At Ellwood (a neighborhood of Goleta), a change of line, including the approaches to the new concrete bridge over the Southern Pacific tracks, has been completed with a 20 foot P. C. C. pavement on a 36·foot graded roadbed under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act." The New Deal era bridge is gone, replaced by a new one by CalTrans. The original was probably funded by the early PWA, then called the "Emergency Public Works Administration", which was created as part of the NIRA but far outlasted the parent...

The Army Corps of Engineers, with funds from the National Industrial Recovery Act, carried out improvements in the San Juan Harbor between 1934-1940.

The Texas state highway 34 bridge at the Trinity River over the Ellis and Kaufman county line was completed in 1934, and is no longer extant. The bridge, funded largely through the National Recovery Act, was "a single 150-foot Parker through truss and 53 steel I-Beam approach spans" (Lauderdale, 1996). The Trinity River Bridge was one of 543 Texas emergency projects funded under NIRA. The bridge was necessary as the Texas Highway Department planned to re-route SH 34 on a new location, and it included new roadway grading and drainage structures, as well as the bridge. Special provisions under NIRA...

SH 78 bridge at Red River is the only surviving K-Truss bridge in Texas. It has an overall length of 2,108 feet, and provides a crossing between Fannin County, Texas and Bryan County, Oklahoma. The "eight riveted K-truss through spans, with two camelback pony truss spans at each end" (Lauderdale, 1996) was a joint project between the Texas Highway Department and the Oklahoma Highway Commission. Primarily designed by OHC engineers, the K-Truss is "meant to afford greater span length and strength" (Jensen). Kansas City Bridge Company were the contractors, and there is a roadside park on each side of the...

The Tornillo-Guadalupe International Bridge, known locally as the Fabens-Caseta Bridge, encouraged trade and commerce between the United States and Mexico for seventy-eight years (1938-2016), providing a symbolic and physical connection between the American and Mexican cultures. It was constructed a half mile southwest of this location in 1938 as part of the Rio Grande rectification project of the International Boundary Commission. It was demolished in 2016. This bridge, along with its sister bridge linking Fort Hancock, Texas, with El Porvenir, Chihuahua, were cornerstones of the rectification project stretching from El Paso, Texas, to Little Box Canyon south of Fort Quitman,...

A previous iteration of the Wellington Bridge, which carried Fellsway across Mystic River between Somerville and Medford, was constructed as a New Deal-sponsored P.W.A. project. "The completion of the Wellington Bridge, constructed under the authorization of Chapter 365 of the Acts of 1933 as a Public Works Administration Project, is a fine example of a public improvement made possible through Federal aid." "National Industrial Recovery Project Mass. State D-1, P.W.A. Docket No. 4478. Furnishing and installing lighting standards, cables and other materials on the Wellington Bridge in Somerville and Medford"

“Location.— Wrangell Narrows lies to the west of Mitkof Island, connects Sumner Strait with Frederick Sound, and forms a part of the inside water route from Puget Sound to southeastern Alaska. (See U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Charts Nos. 8170 and 8200.) Existing project.— This provides for a channel 200 feet wide on the bottom and 21 feet deep at mean lower low water, with increased depth in rock, and 27 feet deep at shoal no. 2; 24 feet deep and 275 feet wide at shoal no. 1, the easing of curves at shoals nos. 5, 6, 7, and 12,...