Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels Sites

Appalachian State University, then known as Appalachian State Teachers College (A.S.T.C), was substantially improved and developed as part of infrastructure and building construction projects on the institution's campus. Numerous New Deal organizations, including the Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Public Works Administration (PWA), provided labor or funding for the numerous projects undertaken at A.S.T.C. during the Great Depression. At A.S.T.C the CWA: conducted landscaping work; provided office help and laborers; repaired buildings; and installed a chlorinator (presumably for a pool). The FERA: constructed a gymnasium and a library; repaired a basement at...

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor repaved Appleton St. in Holyoke, Mass.

Although the New Deal is best known for creation and construction, the Civil Works Administration (CWA) also put unemployed people to work demolishing obsolete structures. In the winter of 1933-34, CWA crews took down the old Aqueduct Bridge, a canal bridge built in 1843 that closed in 1923 when the nearby Key Bridge opened. An abutment of the bridge still remains, overlooking the Potomac Boat Club boathouse.

In February 1936, to complete the portion of Highway 101 between Cannon Beach and Manzanita, the Oregon Highway Department approved construction plans for a 1227-foot-long tunnel through Arch Cape. The federal Public Roads Administration provided critical funding for the project. At the time of its construction, it was the longest tunnel on the Oregon Coast Highway. Difficulties associated with the long bore through both the cape's sandstone and basalt stretched the construction project out over almost four years. The presence of soft sandstone required the construction of a timber lining to prevent a cave-in. Construction workers struggled with difficult conditions including exposure...

Arch Rock Tunnel is one of three tunnels built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) along the Feather River Highway in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway (highway 70) by the State of California (1928-37). Arch Rock tunnel is the southern-most tunnel of the three and the shortest. The tunnels were blasted through solid granite in and around Grizzly Dome. Rock from the tunnels was used for rock safety walls along the highway.

The 1,121-foot Arch Street Overpass was constructed in 1940. Careful analysis of the bridge plate (plaque) as per historic Google Street View imagery suggests that this project was funded by the Public Roads Administration of the Federal Works Agency; the superstructure appears to have been replaced as of 2018.

The Civil Works Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on the Arecibo Lighthouse Road in Arecibo.

The Civil Works Administration carried out road improvement work in Utuado. The work consisted of widening the curve for the road to Arecibo.

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work in Arenales Altos in Isabela.

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) resurfaced Argyle Rd. and Dundee Rd. in Arlington, MA. The W.P.A. installed sidewalks along these roads as well.

The New Deal helped construct the 9-mile road from Fort Valley Road (Highway 180) to the Arizona Snow Bowl ski area on Mt. Agassiz in the San Francisco Peaks, northwest of Flagstaff AZ. In the winter of 1938, the 20-30 Club, a Flagstaff service group, held a "snow carnival" on the southwest slope of Mt. Agassiz. It was so successful that the group ran a contest to choose a name for the area, and "Arizona Snow Bowl" was selected. The Coconino National Forest managers saw the opportunity to help advance the ski resort and offered to build a better access road up...

The Arlington Memorial Bridge across the Potomac River was completed in 1932, but considerable finishing work remained to be done at each end.  In late 1933, the Washington Post reported that $32,000 was appropriated for the Public Works Administration (PWA) to construct retaining walls for the approaches and sidewalks leading to the bridge on the east (DC) side of the river. The work would have almost certainly been completed in 1934. The wonderful statues on the bridge approach have only a minor New Deal dimension: plans for the statues were drawn up in the 1920s, plaster casts were made in the...

Town annual report: The following work has been done under projects, since April, 1934: Arlington Street from Newtown Road, widening and grading 3600 feet to December 27, using sixteen men, 1 foreman, four trucks from November 8 to December 27.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) constructed Armory Road, which connects the armory in Sunbury, Pennsylvania to Mile High Road.

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 a road from "Reynolds Cor. to Armstrongs Cor." The location or name of the road(s) in question is unknown to Living New Deal. An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

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 Annual Report of the Board of the Los Angeles Park Commissioners stated in their 1932-1933 report that the Arroyo Seco Parkway was at the time the third largest park in Los Angeles with 276.1 acres. "A new roadway was built by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation some 1800 feet long which involved the removal of 2000 cubic yards of dirt and the installation of 2600 feet of curbing. General grading consisted of widening and straightening the river channel, placing rip-rap on both banks and using the dirt to fill in areas for lawn and buildings. A group of service buildings...

Both the WPA and the PWA along with a number of local agencies were involved in the construction of the Arroyo Seco Parkway which was mostly completed by 1940. It is 8.2 miles long with 18 bridges. "The Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway) was the first divided-lane, high-speed, limited-access road in the urban western United States and the first stretch of road for what would become the extensive Los Angeles freeway network. The approximately six-mile initial stage of the 8.2-mile roadway, completed in 1940, was envisioned as both a scenic road traversing the Arroyo and a vital traffic conduit linking the...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a project in East Hartford involving "Ash Street grading and surface drain job."

Ashmont St. in Boston, Mass. underwent reconstruction as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Bronx street repair and maintenance project along roads throughout the borough. The streets, many of which in New York City were still unpaved, were surfaced with penetrated macadam. Roads improved included the 1.1-mile stretch of Astor Avenue between Wallace Ave. and Eastchester Rd.

The condition of Atlantic City's primary thoroughfare Atlantic Avenue was so poor that it was occasionally referred to as "no man's land" prior to the federal Works Progress Administration's resurfacing of the road in 1936.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) constructed farm-to-market roads, including Atlantic Street, in Gloucester, Mass.

Two major road projects were accomplished by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) in Fresno County. The June 15 1933 issue of the Clovis Independent mentions the Auberry Road as one of a few major road projects being submitted by the Board of Supervisors. The February 3, 1934 issue said "Supervisor C. Todd Clark reported Wednesday that it is now planned to improve Millerton road from Friant to Auberry Junction with Funds from the new CWA appropriation." The April 4, 1934 article mentions that the widening of the Auberry Road was going to continue under FERA despite the liquidation of CWA projects.

The WPA built rubble walls in the city of Auburn in Placer County.

33 men of the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to grade, surface, and otherwise improve one mile of Augur Lake Road outside of Keeseville, New York in 1939.

In 1939, the federal Work Progress Administration (WPA) worked to develop Austin Cary Forest, a UCF facility used for "the purposes of academic teaching, research, extension education, and demonstration". The WPA "built roads, buildings, and water draining ditches. And 100,000 board feet of pine and 80,000 cypress shingles were logged from the forest and processed at the School's sawmill."

The Public Works Administration (PWA) provided a grant for the construction of an underpass to carry Avenel Street under the train tracks in Avenel, Woodbridge Township, New Jersey (at the train station). The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. The PWA provided a grant of $98,100 for the project, whose total cost was $243,367. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "Work on the project was started by railroad forces September 24th, 1936, construction under contract began November 4, 1936, and the project was completed on November 30, 1937. After construction was under way the...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) constructed "a bridge across Cow Creek at the city tool yard on Avenue C." There is no longer a bridge at this location.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook several road improvement projects along roads in Brooklyn, New York. One such project involved the removal of malls and other repair work along the modest stretch of Avenue S from Avenue T to E 54th St.

The federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a $197,000 street repair and maintenance project, along what were then dirt roads, throughout the borough of Brooklyn, New York. Roads improved included the 0.9-mile stretch of Avenue U from Flatbush Ave. to Gerritsen Ave.

The C.C.C.'s Camp Conner constructed Avery Road in western Stafford, Connecticut.

The Works Progress Administration built a culvert on Azalea St., north of Piedmont, on the border of Canadian and Kingfisher Counties, Oklahoma. Contributor note: "This culvert is located just east of Mustang Road on Azalea Street NE (Waterloo Road). It runs north-south from Canadian County on the south to Kingfisher County on the north. This creek must carry quite a bit of water because the concrete culvert opening is approximately 8 feet high and 14 feet wide. A stamped shield on the culvert curbing shows that the WPA constructed this in 1939."

"Harrison Construction Company was awarded a PWA contract in December 1935 to relocate a 2.3 mile section of Babcock Boulevard in McCandless and Pine Townships to eliminate dangerous curves."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built a car bridge in Babcock State Park in Clifftop WV. Babcock State Park contains 46 New Deal/CCC era resources on 4,127 acres near Clifftop, Fayette County, West Virginia. The land was purchased from the Babcock Coal & Coke Company to create a state park. CCC Company 1522 established Camp Beaver on 14 May 1934 lasting until 14 August 1937. Camp Lee was occupied by CCC Company 532 on 10 July 1935, and remained active until late 1941 or early 1942.

Concrete Cast-in-Place bridge on Griffith Avenue in Terrell, TX. It has a metal plaque at both ends of the bridge which is approx. 108 feet long. Joint project of Texas Highway Department and US Bureau of Public Roads.

"WPA’s legacy is visible today in those and many other ways" in Wilkes-Barre. "Travel was made easier when the East End Boulevard was straightened out and crucial highway links in the Back Mountain and West Side areas were constructed, all by WPA workers."

According to the town report, one of the several projects the New Deal completed in Farmington was work on Bailey Hill Rd. in 1939. WOODCOCK, OR BAILEY HILL ROAD Paid by town for materials, labor, trucks, arch culvert, etc. $3,049 24 Received from State, Special Resolve $1,974 50 Overdraft, no appropriation 1,074.74 Received from W. P. A. $6,105 23

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here shows Baird Road when it was completed for the town of Penfield in Monroe County, New York.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve Baker Avenue in Augusta, Georgia ca. 1936.