Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels Sites

The overpass carrying Van Name 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 federal Work Projects Administration put many men to work starting in 1935 with a Staten Island 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 bituminous macadam. Roads paved included the stretch of Van Name Avenue between Forest Ave. and Walker St.

The WPA worked on Van Ness Ave. between Market and Beach Streets.

In 1936-37, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Van Ness Street NW., from Forty-second to Forty-sixth Streets. The WPA improved this road with recycled material and the “laying of a thin blanket of bituminous material.” It was described as “a major project involving approximately 10,000 square yards.”

The overpass carrying Van Pelt 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.

Before November 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed sewer lines along Venable Avenue, between 15th and 20th Streets, in the Kanawha City area of Charleston. It appears that work crews left behind such muddy conditions that Chamberlain Junior High (now Elementary) principal complained in a letter to WPA officials. At the time, the streets were known as 15th (now 44th Street) and 20th (now 49th Street). 20th Street was also known as Main Street.  

A concrete bridge over the Verdugo Wash constructed by the Army Corp. of Engineers in 1938.

A 100 ft riveted, 5-panel Pratt through truss bridge over the Verdugo Wash.

98 ft. Vierendeel pony truss bridge over the Verdugo wash constructed by the Army Corp. of Engineers.

1 of 3 Vierendeel pony truss design bridges in the US. Built by the Army Corps. of Engineers in 1937. The bridge crosses the Verdugo Wash at Glenoaks Blvd.

A two lane concrete bridge over the Los Angeles River in Glendale CA constructed by the Army Corps. of Engineers in 1936.

A very rare Vierendeel pony truss bridge over Verdugo Wash on Kenilworth Avenue in Glendale Ca. built by the Army Corp. of Engineers.

The Verdugo Wash Bridge is the first significant bridge on US 99 north of downtown Los Angeles. It is a steel girder structure built in 1939 by the US Army Corp of Engineers. The Verdugo Wash was lined with concrete at that time and the bridge was built to accommodate the new channel.

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) employed hundreds of men constructing what was known as "Veribest Road" in 1934-5. The road is likely Farm-to-Market Road 380.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved Verona Avenue in Newark, New Jersey in 1936. The job put 25 men to work.

The WPA carried out construction and improvements on Vester Gade 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 WPA conducted road improvements at the Veteran's Adminstration hospital in Boise.

The Works Progress Administration carried out road improvement work around the Veterans Hospital in Boise, between 1936-1937.

W.P.A. project description: "Veterans of Foreign Wars, West Roxbury, and Turtle Pond Parkways; the roadsides of these parkways were beautified for their entire lengths by grubbing, grading and seeding. Ten miles, or 176,000 square yards of property was reclaimed."

The WPA installed 22-inch safety curbing on the 155th Street viaduct near what was then the Polo Grounds.

A concrete bridge built on former State Route 56 (today State Route 1 the Cabrillo Highway) under a federal grant of $48,000.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed what was then known as Willow Park (now Victor Crowell Park) in Middlesex, New Jersey. Work began in December 1935. Among other work, Ambrose Brook was dammed "by a concrete-cored earth fill into a seven-and-a-half acre lake with an average depth of seven feet. A sluice gate was constructed for drainage and flood control." Shrubs and trees were planted, and picnic tables and benches constructed. The WPA installed swing sets as well. Roads on the north and south shores of the lake were paved, and "an attractive stone grotto" was erected "at the entrance...

The CWA built Victor Highway, which runs between Lodi and Lockeford, through Victor, and it is still in use.

The Annual Report from 1932-33 of the Los Angeles Board of Park Commissioners records extensive federal aid in developing the park: "Victory Vanowen Park is one of the largest parks in the San Fernando Valley, with an area of a little over ninety acres. This park is bounded by Whitsett Avenue, Laurel Canyon Boulevard, and Calvert Street. An enormous amount of improvement work was done here with the help of the R.F.C. and County Welfare labor. New roads, a length of 6,110 feet, were constructed, which required the grading of 4,072 cubic yards of dirt, and installing 8,850 feet of redwood...

The Vignes Street bridge is a large concrete viaduct carrying railroad traffic to Los Angeles's Union Station.  It was funded by the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, i.e., Public Works Administration (PWA), during the Great Depression and completed in 1938. The bridge is still in use today.

The Village Bridge is 94 foot Warren pony truss bridge over East Branch Sebasticook River on ME 69/ME 220 in Detroit Maine. It was one of 26 bridges that were badly damaged or destroyed by a 500 year flood in March 1936. A Maine state Highway commission report notes that the reconstruction of these bridges were U.S. Works Program Flood Relief projects and were handled under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Public Roads, U.S. Department of Agriculture. All bridges were placed under construction in 1936 with labor supplied to some by the Works Progress Administration.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved Vineyard Road outside Ticonderoga, New York.

In 1936, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a bridge on E. Willis Street across a small wash just east of N. Virginia Street in Prescott AZ.  It is a short bridge made of concrete and local stone, in typical WPA rustic style.  The downstream side (north) has a long channel, presumably to prevent erosion of the banks. The WPA project card in the National Archives is mislabeled as the Virginia Street bridge – an understandable error, given that there are two WPA bridges, one on West Willis and one on East Willis Street (the Virginia Street bridge is not actually...

"One of Georgia’s oldest and most beloved state parks, Vogel is located at the base of Blood Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest. Driving from the south, visitors pass through Neel Gap, a beautiful mountain pass near Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia. Vogel is particularly popular during the fall when the Blue Ridge Mountains transform into a rolling blanket of red, yellow and gold leaves. Hikers can choose from a variety of trails, including the popular 4-mile Bear Hair Gap loop, an easy lake loop that leads to Trahlyta Falls, and the challenging 13-mile Coosa Backcountry Trail. Cottages, campsites...

The Public Works Administration built the Alexander Bridge over the West River in South Londonderry. Docket No. 5828-(Vt.). The structure was engineered by the Vermont State Highway Engineering Department and was built as a 4-span concrete bridge.  

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Vueltas Road in Las Marias.

New Deal federal funds totaling $35,000 allowed for the widening and paving of A Street (today W Holt Blvd) 1.6 miles from San Antonio Ave to S Cucamonga Ave which was at the time was the city limits. Holt Blvd, along with Valley Blvd was once the original alignment for Route 60.

"In the 1930's the Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a series of improvements including the construction of the loop road around the summit ." A 1937 WPA Bulletin reported: In 1934 Waitt's Mount in Maiden looked like a quarry-workers' nightmare. It was a huge, bald and jagged granite ledge whose slope was covered with twisted, stunted trees and tangled underbrush; probably the most useless piece of land in this section of the state. Today the Mount is a beautifully terraced park which commands a 15-mile panorama of metropolitan Boston. The park, built by the WPA, has landscaped slopes, shade trees, rustic...

Walk Hill Street in Boston, between Hyde Park Ave. and Harvard St., was reconstructed as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.

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

A 1939 article cited work the WPA had been accomplishing in Stoughton, Mass. "They ... are now about to start the finishing work on laying out and rebuilding of Walnut Court as a town way. The street has been widened, tons of stone have been dug out and all that remains is the filling of holes and getting the top surface ready for the tar, which when applied and covered will put that piece of highway in fine condition."

The Walnut Creek Bridge in northern Yavapai County AZ was built in 1936 with the help of the New Deal.  It crosses Walnut Creek on FS95 and may have been built to improve access to the Prescott National Forest ranger station further up CR125, Walnut Creek Road. The bridge was built by the Arizona Highways Department using relief workers hired out of transient (homeless) camps along the Verde River, with the aid of Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) funds (probably via the Arizona Relief Administration). The design was done by Arizona Highways Bridge Engineer Ralph Hoffman, basically a concrete foundation on which...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) conducted road improvement work in Dover, Mass., including the reconstruction of a 500-foot stretch of Walpole Street. "he raising of the grade of Walpole Street at the brook near the Zinsser Estate has greatly improved conditions there."

W.P.A. project description: "The three projects, which were approved and on which work was started late in the year, provide for the reconstruction of: first, Wampatuck Road from Furnace Brook Parkway to Chickatawbut Road, Quincy, a distance of 4,800 feet ... All these roads will have a width of 30 feet and have a 5-inch bituminous concrete surface on a 12-inch gravel base. Also, an 8-ft. wide, 2-inch bituminous surfaced walk will be constructed adjacent to and for the whole length of each road. Work will include excavation of earth, rock and ledge, installation of drainage systems, filling and grading, loaming...

Photo description: "August 15, 1939. PWA Project No. Vt. 1097-F This view shows the completed pavement at the intersection of North Bend Street and Ward Street. The old road bed was scarified, reshaped and treated with stabilizing emulsion late in the fall of 1938 and a base course of asphalt penetration was constructed with one application of 85-100 penetration asphalt binder. A wearing surface of two inches of Plant-Max asphalt using tempering fluid was constructed during the early summer of 1939."