Farm to Market Road 45 Extension – Brownwood TX

Description

This section of Farm to Market Road (FM) 45 is a 4.6 mile two-lane paved road running in an east-west direction below the south corporate city limits of Brownwood. The Works Progress Administration constructed the road in 1941 as a new access road to Camp Bowie. The military reservation had been established a year earlier in September of 1940 as a training center for the Thirty-sixth Infantry Division, Texas National Guard. The camp expanded rapidly during the early years of World War II, increasing form its original 2,000 acres to 120,000 by October of 1942. As part of the expansion, new roads were needed to provide access to the camp.

As part of the road extension a bridge over a tributary of Willis Creek was needed. This three-span, multi-plate, stone arch bridge was one of two masonry bridge-class culverts constructed. The bridge is formed by three corrugated multi-plate pipe half-arches, supported by masonry spandrel walls and concrete footings.

The project was authorized as of July 1, 1941 to employ 241 workers, including 213 unskilled and 19 skilled laborers. The project was completed August 1, 1941.