Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels Sites

The WPA improved Church St. and the intersecting Center St. in 1938. These streets run directly in front of the Santa Cruz City Hall, Civic Auditorium and Fire Station No. 1, all PWA projects.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a small vehicle and pedestrian bridge over a creek in Handley, TX. The bridge has a WPA plaque. Handley is now a suburb of Fort Worth Texas.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along Church Street in Wilmington. According to Delaware's Annual Report of the Chief Engineer State Highway Department, 1934: The work was carried on throughout the State, and consisted largely of clearing and grubbing, ditching, grading, sodding, construction of sidewalks, building of masonry culverts and bridges and the re­ pairing of dikes along the banks of the Delaware and Christian Rivers. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week...

The Works Progress Administration completed hardsurfacing work on Church Street in Christiansted.

The city of Lodi and the WPA constructed and installed 15.8 miles of water mains, 101 fire hydrants, 8.8 miles of sanitary sewers and manholes, 12,230 feet of storm drains and manholes, catch basins. Almost every street and alley has been graded and oiled, 21.5 miles of curbs and gutters constructed, sludge disposal plant decanter constructed, Lockeford Street and School Street work finished.

City Island Road, between Pelham Bridge and the City Island Bridge, was built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

New Deal federal works programs completed widespread infrastructure improvement projects throughout Oakland, Maine. Michael J. Denis's report "Some Tidbits of Oakland History" details the following: "Clyde G Blake, the new road commissioner, noted in 1934 that most roads were widened, 825 feet of stone base road was laid on Ten Lots Road, 3350 feet of state aid road was constructed on Fairfield Street, and 4000 feet of Rice's Ripps Road, 900 feet of Summer Street, and 800 feet of Fairfield Street were resurfaced. Hosea Ireland was back as commissioner in 1935. He noted 2950 feet of improved road on Fairfield Street, 900...

"Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects employed thousands of local workers on municipal projects that would improve the lives of city residents. The construction workers shown here in 1936 were widening Vintage Avenue (later renamed Civic Center Boulevard) in West Philadelphia. Because Vintage Avenue was elevated, the construction seen here was for a retaining wall to support the road addition."

In 1933-34, a large number of civil improvements were made to Twin Falls, Idaho by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Idaho Emergency Relief Administration (IERA). The works were done by relief workers hired from local jobless rolls in the depths of the Great Depression. Both CWA and IERA were funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), to the tune of around $250,000. The civic improvements included the City Park band shell, work at the water treatment plant, tennis court at Harmon Park, painting Shoshone Street bridge, grading over 200 blocks of city streets, and graveling 95 blocks of streets.

A project: "grade separation (clover leaf) on Lebanon Church Road," entailing the construction of a bridge carrying Clairton Blvd., was undertaken in Pittsburgh as part of a New Deal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). The structure bears a PWA plaque.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to develop during the 1930s what is now known as Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park. NYSParks.com: "The original core of land around and including Canopus Lake was developed through the use of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps which were established in the park and began development of the picnic area and campground, comfort stations, bridle paths, shelters, roads, and dams at Pelton Pond, Canopus and Stillwater lakes."

Built the avenue between Laguna Honda Boulevard and Stanyan Street trhu the Sutro Forest. Work consisted of laying a base course of 8 inch Quarry run rock and 2 inch asphalt wearing surface, together with required curb, sidewalk, guard rail, drainage, etc. This improvement created a 40 feet highway between the Sunset Section, west of Twin Peaks and down town San Francisco, making the shortest connection and most direct route between Forest Hills and Downtown.--Healy, p. 47.

Las Vegas's Sun reported in 2004: "The underpass, the first structure of its type in Nevada to be listed in the , was built in 1937 by the Depression-era Works Project Administration. Preservationists say it's important because it brought what is now West Las Vegas together with the rest of the city. The city used to be split by the rail line, which was then elevated. The underpass was one of 78,000 bridges constructed under the Works Progress Administration. The original structure has already been altered due to the widening of Bonanza Road, which was Clark Avenue until the 1940s."

Vehicle access within the Willamette National Forest (WNF) was quite limited in 1933. Consequently, developing truck trails or access roads was a high priority for the US Forest Service for fire management. When Civilian Conservation Corps enrollees arrived in the summer of 1933, they were immediately put to work developing a truck trail from Belknap Springs on the McKenzie Highway north to Clear Lake, and ultimately connecting to US Hwy 20 and the Santiam Highway.  Portions of those road improvements are currently maintained as forest service roads while the remainder has been improved as State Highway 126, known at the...

The Works Progress Administration completed the construction of Clemens Street on Shinnston. The work consisted of “Excavation, stone-base, shoulders and concrete curb necessary for full completion of Clemens street."

The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: "MEMORIAL SHOREWAY (officially called Cleveland Memorial Shoreway), was the first east-west freeway in Greater Cleveland. Originally a strip of road along the lakefront from E. 9th to E. 55th, the 4-mile stretch of road was envisioned as part of a larger system of roads. Using work relief funds and labor from the WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION (WPA), buildings were razed, the lakefront extended by landfill, and the strip was paved. Ten thousand WPA workers completed enough of the preliminary road work for access to the GREAT LAKES EXPOSITION in 1936; within 2 years the road reached the...

CCC laborers completed two stone arched bridges at Clifty Falls. The first one was completed in 1936 and crosses Dean's Branch. The bridge has 2' high stone walls spanning the length of the bridge.

CCC laborers completed two stone arched bridges at Clifty Falls. The second bridge was completed in 1936 and crosses Little Clifty Creek.

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) was to improve several roads to the Lake Ontario shore in the Three Mile Bay area of Jefferson County, New York, during the summer of 1939. Roads included that "between the county road and Clines Point, 2.4 miles."

A graceful Art Deco bridge carries Clinton Street over Chenango River in downtown Binghamton, New York. The project was enabled by funding from the federal Public Works Administration (Docket No. NY 1321-R). The PWA provided a $162,297 grant for the project, whose total cost was $562,763. Dedication plaques can be found at both the bridges northeast and southwest corners. Construction occurred between Mar. 1936 and Jun. 1937. Nearby, a parallel underpass construction project, which carried rail traffic over Clinton Street, was also enabled by the PWA.

Two bridges carry rail traffic over Clinton Street, just west of the Chenango River, west of downtown Binghamton, New York. This grade-separation project was enabled by funding from the federal Public Works Administration (Docket No. NY 1322-R). The PWA provided a $82,188 grant for the project, whose total cost was $217,779. The bridges still stand today, though some of the original Art Deco embellishments appear to have been destroyed or otherwise removed. However, dedication plaques can be found at both the north bridge's west end, and the south bridge's east end. As of 2018 the latter is visible, though part...

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of infrastructure in Hornitos, Mariposa County. The projects included Co. Hwy J16. "SEVERAL PWA PROJECTS UNDER WAY IN COUNTY Several PWA projects for this county have been approved and work in some degree has been started. Among those approved and under way are included the Hornitos-Merced Falls Road,"

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed a bridge on a county road over Coal Creek east of Humboldt, Kansas. Crews were working "around the clock" in August 1941. The location and status of the structure are unknown to Living New Deal, though it is possible this refers to the crossing of Georgia Avenue over Coal Creek / the Neosho River. If so the WPA bridge has likely been replaced.

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.

Cocasset Street in Foxboro, Massachusetts was reconstructed as part of a WPA project that began in March 1938. This included the widening and resurfacing of the thoroughfare. The widening forced the removal of trees; the replacement of lost trees was part of the approved project. The final cost to pave approximately 4900 feet of road was reported at about $22,000, of which Federal funds contributed $14,558.

In operation from Dec. 9, 1933 to Jul. 30, 1941, C.C.C. Camp Filley conducted extensive development work in the Cockaponset State Forest in Middlesex County, Connecticut. Camp Hadley, Company #2101, also operated on this site, from Sept. 5, 1935 to Apr. 4, 1941. Projects included tree planting; renovations to the Forest Ranger's house; construction of a lumber shed, garage, brick charcoal kiln, a picnic shelter, and clean-up after the flood of 1936 in the town of Middletown. Work also included development at Chatfield Hollow State Park, designated as such in 1949. It was originally a Civilian Conservation Corps recreation area within Cockaponset State Forest.

"Some of the early projects implemented  included ... construction of a new road from the St. Augustine road to Cody." This was likely Road 212.

Founded in 1813, Colby College is one of the oldest liberal arts colleges in the United States. It moved to its current location in the 1930s with significant help from the New Deal: Former Colby student Leonard C. Cabana (class of 1933) wrote recently that "by the time the Great Depression was sweeping the country, 'the new Roosevelt administration began implementing a hail of New Deal agencies to create jobs for the unemployed. It was my privilege to work under one of these, the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It poured in a million dollars (worth probably over $20 millions today) into...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Cold Brook Road outside Saranac, New York. Work began October 19, 1936 and was slated to put 30 men to work for six months.

In 1937 the Works Progress Administration (WPA) "completely paved and modernized" Denver's Colfax Avenue, "and built a new western route which took it over the hill and across ranch land to the entrance of Mt. Vernon Canyon, its present route. Around this time Colfax was designated U.S. Highway 40."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the development of what is now College Point Boulevard, prior to the advent of the 1939 World's Fair. Then called Lawrence Street, WPA efforts involved "the widening and paving of important approach to Whitestone Bridge." The New York Times: "The Lawrence Street improvement, which will employ fifty men for the next two months, will create a street eighty feet wide from building line to building line between Northern Boulevard and Thirty-second Avenue, where Lawrence Street joins Willetts Point Boulevard at the north end of the West Bridge," since redeveloped as the Whitestone Expressway,...

This bridge over Arroyo Seco was constructed by the PWA in 1939.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work in Collores in Juana Diaz.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant for grade separations of Colonia Boulevard and "Sucker Brook Road," from the train tracks, in Colonia, New Jersey. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. The PWA provided a grant of $99,585 for the project, whose total cost was $243,391. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "Execution of the order of the Board to eliminate these crossings ... In the meantime funds to aid in the construction of the project became available through a 45% grant from P.W.A. Work was started by railroad forces on...

The Colorado River Bridge was built by the Federal Works Agency in 1941. The bridge is approximately 490 feet long. It spans the Colorado River south of Colorado City on HWY-163. Marker Text: COLORADO RIVER BRIDGE BUILT IN 1941 BY THE TEXAS HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT ---------------------- FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY PUBLIC ROAD ADMINISTRATION --------------------- STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION BRADY GENTRY CHAIRMAN HARRY HINES MEMBER ROBERT LEE BOBBITT MEMBER D.C. GREER HIGHWAY ENGINEER R.C. McKINNEY CONTRACTOR

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BTP) is a massive water storage and transfer project for agriculture, cities and power generation. It involves dams and reservoirs on the west side of the Rocky Mountains' Front Range to collect water from the upper Colorado River system; a tunnel through the mountains under Rocky Mountain National Park; and a series of storage reservoirs, power plants and distribution aqueducts on the eastern side of the Rockies. The project extends over a large area of Grand, Larimer, and Weld counties, and portions of four others.  The C-BTP was built and is still managed by the US Bureau of...

U.S. Route 50, commonly known in Cincinnati as Columbia Parkway, was a project built in association with the Works Progress Administration. The highway runs through Southern Ohio from east to west. It passes through Cincinnati, Chillicothe, and Athens. The highway grade separation in Cincinnati was funded by the Public Works Administration in 1938.

In 1933, the Washington Post announced the approval of several road surfacing projects funded by the federal PWA: "Among projects approved here are paving of Sixteenth street, Constitution Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Columbia Road, Foxhall Road, Good Hope Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Benning Road and Conduit Road, widening of E Street back of the White House and widening of Thirteenth Street" (October 9, 1933). It is not clear which section of Columbia Road was repaved, but other infrastructure projects in the vicinity make the stretch near MacMillan Reservoir a likely candidate for paving. The labor was most likely provided by relief workers in the...

The WPA worked on Columbus Ave. between Montgomery St. and Bay St.