Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels Sites

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Cuevas Road in Lajas.

This culvert is stamped with a Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) shield in the top of the curbing on either side of the road. The culvert runs north-south with the tunnel approximately 3 ft. high and 5 ft. wide. It crosses CR E1040 (Bramble Street). It is located southwest of town and handles water run-off. We did not see any creek nearby.

This Works Progress Administration project in Exeter, NH provided employment for fourteen people and completed key repairs on a local culvert. The federal cost was $870.04

This Works Progress Administration photo shows one of the culverts constructed by the WPA in Blasdell, New York. The WPA caption locates the culverts on the following streets: Avon, Orchard, Gilbert, and Merian (WPA). More information is needed about the present status and exact location of the project.  

The National Youth Administration built culverts on S. 1st St. in Merkel, Taylor County. A site marker reads, "Constructed by National Youth Administration 1940."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved roads in Plattsburgh, New York, including Cumberland Head Road, in 1936.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration (with funds from the Federal Emergency Relief Administration) carried out new construction on Cupey Road in San Juan.

Curry Hollow Road was constructed in 1938-9 as part of a New Deal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). PWA Docket No. PA 2106 The Pittsburgh Press: "Another grant of $203,453 has been made for Curry Hollow Highway, connecting Route 51 and Broughton, which will relieve traffic on Route 51, and eliminate Iwo railroad crossings. Total cost is estimated at $458,118." The total final cost was listed in PWA documents as $333,022.

The Works Progress Administration paved Curry Road in Tempe, Maricopa County, circa 1937. Pictured is a finished section of Curry Highway (presently Curry Road) at the intersection with Scottsdale Road.

"In 1934 Federal CWA and ERA funds were used for bituminous treatment at Cutter Street."

The Public Works Administration (PWA) improved a segment of D Street NW, from Third Street to Fourth Street. This section of road was part of a PWA-funded project to widen, realign, repave, and install sidewalks along streets, to accommodate the new Municipal Center building (also a PWA-funded project).

Originally known as simply Dana Road, this farm-to-market road connected the rural communities of Dana, McArthur, and Fall River Mills to Shasta County's more traveled traffic arteries. The unincorporated town of Dana from which it drew its name was named for George Dana, who owned and ran a sawmill near Rainbow Springs in the late nineteenth century. Currently, Dana/McArthur Rd (also known as Route A19) connects Route 299 to Route 89.

The construction of the westbound span of this bridge taking Highway 40 (Interstate 64) over the Missouri River was funded by the Public Works Administration in 1935. The Kansas City Bridge Company was the contractor of record. The eastbound span was built in 1989. The original Depression-era span was demolished in the 2016 and replaced.

The bridge carrying Date Street across the Manoa-Palolo Canal (itself a W.P.A. project) was constructed by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in 1937. Two imprinted stamps identify the bridge as W.P.A.

1 of 26 bridges that were rebuilt by the New Deal following a 500 year flood in March 1936. The bridge is a Concrete slab structure over the West Branch of the Cousins River. From the design of the guard rails, it looks as if the New Deal bridge was replaced recently. The abutments however look to be of an older design utilizing cut granite, possibly from 1917 when the state replaced an "extremely dangerous" bridge. According to a 2004 Maine DOT Historic Bridge Survey, Phase II Final Report & Historic Context, the "March 1936 flood was one of the most...

The WPA carried out construction and improvements on De Beltjen Rd. in Charlotte Amalie. Road construction and improvements carried out by the WPA in the Virgin Islands typically included “clearing the old roadway widening existing curves, blasting rock from the road surface and drains, relocating where necessary, installing culverts, preparing the subgrade and placing the bituminous macadam surface.”

The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds for the construction of an underpass carrying Deans Lane under the railroad in South Brunswick Township. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "A "Works Program-State Highway Department" project on which the Board initiated proceedings and on December 4th, 1935, issued an order to eliminate the crossings. This, order was later modified on June 29, 1937, to eliminate the Deans Road crossing on its present alignment. Contract for construction of the project was let by the State Highway Department on August 4, 1937. ... Funds...

"In 1929, the state legislature authorized the construction of a bridge across the narrow scenic but dangerous waterway between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, but there were no funds to proceed. In 1934, the Public Works Administration authorized a grant and manpower from the Civilian Conservation Corps. The two bridge spans were built in a year at a cost of $482,000."

W.P.A. project description: "Dedham Parkway and Turtle Pond Parkway; a project in operation at the end of the year will provide a parking area on each of these two parkways in the Hyde Park district."

"A final example of a historically significant Forest Service road bridge is the Deep Creek Masonry Arch on the Bitterroot National Forest in Idaho (figure 7). This arch is a single-span masonry arch built by the CCC in the 1930’s. The Deep Creek Arch was designed by Arthur (Art) Kahl, the USDA Forest Service regional bridge engineer between 1934 and 1962. Mr. Kahl was responsible for the design and construction of numerous USDA Forest Service bridges in Montana and Idaho. A case could be made that he was a significant individual in the early development of bridges and transportation systems...

"This toll bridge crosses Eggemoggin Reach and connects Deer Isle with the mainland. It is about 25 miles southeast of Belfast by road and about the same distance southwest of Ellsworth. It replaces a ferry communication which was antiquated and dangerous in stormy weather. The bridge is of the high-level suspension type with a main span of 1,080 feet and two side spans of 484 feet each. Its total length, exclusive of the fill approaches, is 2,509 feet of nearly half a mile. The roadway is 20 feet wide and attains an elevation of 98.7 feet...

The WPA worked to improve roads throughout Deer Lodge County, Montana. $221,502 were allocated for such projects in July 1938 alone.

The overpass carrying Dehart Avenue over what was then a freight and passenger railway (the North Shore Branch of the Staten Island Railway) was constructed during the mid-1930s, in conjunction with the lowering of the railroad right-of-way, as one link in a massive grade crossing removal project. The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a $1.46 million grant for the $6 million grade crossing elimination project, which included work elsewhere in Staten Island and even in Manhattan. PWA Docket No. NY 4926.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a short bridge on North Main Street across Del Monte Wash in Cottonwood AZ.   The bridge is concrete dressed with the same river stone from the Verde River as the nearby Cottonwood Community Club building and was almost certainly built at the same time, 1938-39.  It is mentioned on the historical plaque in front of the Community Club.

The federal Works Progress Administration filled in the old Delaware & Raritan Canal, which ran through downtown Trenton, New Jersey, beginning August 8, 1936. The unused canal had proved to be a barrier to the city's development. The land was then redeveloped into State Route 129.

This photo shows a "twin arch bridge" on Delaware Ave. under construction by the WPA in 1936. Google maps shows that the bridge is still standing.

The major thoroughfare of Delaware Avenue in Buffalo, New York was improved substantially ca. 1936 by federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) labor. More than 400 men were put to work as part of this effort.

The WPA conducted extensive work at former Delaware Ordnance Depot, located on the west side of Route 130 about halfway between Penns Grove and Pedricktown. Many buildings and much of the infrastructure from the time is still extant. WPA projects at the old Ordnance Depot included: "Improve buildings and grounds by constructing magazines and rail facilities, barracks, dispensary, offers and non‐commissioned officers quarters, roads, sidewalks and utilities, landscaping; and performing appurtenant and incidental tasks." Official Project Number: 713‐2‐19 Total project cost: $900,000.00 Sponsor: Commanding Officer, Delaware Ordnance Depot, and War Department "A non‐construction project to improve and rehabilitate buildings, public utility systems, water supply and gypsy...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed this composite truss bridge over the Delaware River in 1936, in conjunction with Jefferson County. The bridge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$107,000 was approved in the WPA project no. 41003 for the Delta Station Forest Tract for fire lanes, roadways, and general improvements. The Experiment Station purpose was experimental work in lowland forest types. Henry Parker, of Grenada, Mississippi was the project supervisor in charge of "clearing and grubbing roadways and firebreaks (WPA Project, p. 1)...road construction and bridge building; manufacture of lumber for bridges; and stand-improvement work under the supervision of state and federal foresters" (p. 5).

The CCC worked at what is now Denali National Park for two summers in 1938 and 1939. "The Mount McKinley National Park Headquarters District in what is now called Denali National Park was the original administrative center of the park. It contains an extensive collection of National Park Service Rustic structures, primarily designed by the National Park Service's Branch of Plans and Designs in the 1930s... As the hub of park administrative and management, the headquarters area expanded according to detailed plans provided by the Branch of Plans and Design. As in many of the national parks during the Depression, the Civilian...

The PWA helped complete the 91-mile Denali Park Road, from the park entrance to Kantishna. The road aided mining and tourism and is still used today.

Originally named the Wolf Creek Tunnel, construction on this 800-foot long tunnel began in 1940 as one of the final steps in completion of the Wolf Creek Highway's path through the Coast Range linking the Portland area with northern Oregon coastal communities. Kibbe and Kearn, a Portland firm, cut the tunnel's bore. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers completed the stone masonry veneer on the tunnel's east and west portals. The project was completed in 1941. Oregon State Highway engineers designed the rustic-style tunnel portals. The plans were reviewed by National Park Service landscape architects and carried out by WPA masons under...

Two small concrete bridges about a mile apart on this road. Both have round WPA markers from 1939.

Depot Road was constructed by the W.P.A. Project information: "Prospect Hill and Depot Rd. to Fort Devens" Official Project Number: 65‐1‐14‐3047 Total project cost: $100,000.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Descalabrado Road in Santa Isabel.

In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed living quarters, roads, fences and a well at the Desert Experimental Range Station in Pine Valley UT. The station was established in 1933 by President Herbert Hoover, who set aside an 87-square-mile area of high desert in the Great Basin.  The CCC improvements made the range station functional. The Desert Experimental Range focuses on cold desert rangeland research. In 1976, it was designated a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO, the only cold desert reserve in the Western Hemisphere.  It is administered by the US Forest Service. 

In 1937, the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) provided a grant to contractor, G. Clay Gates, to build a metal guardrail on part of the Cameron-Desert View approach road to Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. "G. Clay Gates, Thermopolis, Wyo., $18,122 low to Bureau of Public Roads, Phoenix, Arizona, for performing the work for placing metal plate guardrail on Sections A, B, C, D, and E of the Cameron-Desert View Approach Road to Grand Canyon National Park, Coconino County, Arizona."  Western Construction News. There are still guard rails along much of Desert View Road, but the road has pretty clearly been...

Bridge No. 1603 in Connecticut is one of three bridges constructed in 1937 to carry Hopyard Road over varying brooks within Devil's Hopyard State Park in East Haddam. They were built as part of a Federal Works Progress Administration project. The bridges were each added to the National Register of Historic Places, and Bridge No. 1603 bears NRHP reference number 93000641. Bridge No. 1603 is a stone arch bridge located on SSR 434: 6.70 miles east of the route's western terminus at Route 82. It crosses an unnamed creek. The structure was rehabilitated in 1988.

Bridge No. 1604 in Connecticut is one of three bridges constructed in 1937 to carry Hopyard Road over varying brooks within Devil's Hopyard State Park in East Haddam. They were built as part of a Federal Works Progress Administration project. The bridges were each added to the National Register of Historic Places, and Bridge No. 1604 bears NRHP reference number 93000642. Bridge No. 1604 is a stone arch bridge located on SSR 434: 7.18 miles east of the route's western terminus at Route 82. It crosses an unnamed creek. The structure was rehabilitated in 1988.