Pond Creek Bridge - Tobyhanna Township PA

City:: Tobyhanna Township, PA
Site Type:: Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels, Infrastructure and Utilities
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
Started:: 1938
Completed:: 1938
Designer:: Pennsylvania Dept. of Highways
Contractor:: Pennsylvania Dept. of Highways
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: Yes
Site Survival:: Unknown

Description

This structure, which carries State Route 2016 across Pond Creek, is a 12-foot stone arch bridge constructed by the Pennsylvania Department of Highways with funding and labor from the WPA. From the notes: This structure is an excellent example of a WPA-sponsored project because of its well-preserved condition and undisturbed setting, where it spans Pond Creek on a rural road just outside of Lackawanna State Forest. The parapet walls of this skew stone arch bridge display careful rustic craftsmanship and an interesting mix of identifying marks. Designed by a state highway department, constructed with local labor, and paid for by the WPA, it reflects the involvement of government at all levels of the project during the Great Depression.

Source notes

Bridge was extensively documented by the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) of the National Park Service. See:
https://cdn.loc.gov/master/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3600/pa3670/data/pa3670data.pdf and https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/pa3670/ . Parapet wall: https://cdn.loc.gov/service/pnp/habshaer/pa/pa3600/pa3670/photos/361563pv.jpg

WPA marker on bridge parapet.

Site originally submitted by Matt Hamel on September 28, 2018.