- City:
- Greenwood, MS
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels, Sanitation and Water Disposal
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1938
- Designers:
- Civil Engineer and principal architect; Charles G. Abbott and Fred Abbott, Eli Abbott
- Contractors:
- Guthrie & Co. (St. Paul, Massman Construction Co. (Kansas City, Sandy Hite Co. (Kansas City, Service Construction (AR)
Description
The Greenwood underpass, or railway bridge cross #300721D, was “built to allow traffic on Main Street to pass under the railroad tracks of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad” ( Greenwood Underpass, 2011). The project also re-routed US 49 and US 82 into Greenwood, with concrete and brick highway to replace the gravel roads (Darden, 2008-2009). Engineered by Eli Abbot along with his two sons, Charles G. and Fred Abbott, the underpass cost $400,000 and was built by the Mississippi State Highway Department, using Works Progress Administration funds. An Art Deco style pumphouse was constructed next to the railroad tracks to help remove water from the underpass. The Greenwood Commonwealth, the local paper, documented the ongoing construction of the underpass in daily journal entries (Darden). It was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.
Source notes
https://misspreservation.com/2014/09/02/new-deal-in-mississippi-greenwood-underpass-aka-main-street-railway-bridge-crossing/Site originally submitted by Susan Allen on October 27, 2014.
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