Park Road 4 – Burnet TX

Description

Park Road 4 is a 15.5-mile, two-lane scenic parkway that extends west from U.S. Highway 281 and terminates at State Highway 29 to the west of Burnet. It travels through Longhorn Cavern State Park and skirts the eastern edge of Inks Lake State Park. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) constructed the first several miles were in the mid-1930s to provide visitor access to the newly renovated Longhorn Cavern State Park. Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers extended the road west of the park headquarters in the early 1940s. The road connected with Farm-to-Market Road 2342, and was finally completed concurrently with the construction of Inks Lake State Park about 1942.

Between 1934 and 1942 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the State Highway Department built the eastern entrance portals, masonry bridges, retaining walls, two parking overlooks, culverts and guard walls. Large live oak and other trees were preserved by the CCC during road work, as indicated by historic plans and sketches. The CCC designed and installed additional plantings of native species at three locations along the roadway; the entrance portals, Longhorn Cavern, and Parking Overlook B.