Riverside Drive Improvement – Los Angeles CA

Description

“The Riverside Drive Improvement, Work Project Nos. 145 and 6951, was sponsored by the County of Los Angeles. The work involved the construction and improvement of Riverside Drive from Victory Boulevard Bridge [a P.W.A. project] to Barham Boulevard, a distance of three and one quarter miles. The work consisted of grading a 60′ – 0″ roadway two and one quarter miles long and paving three and one quarter miles of 56′ – 0″ roadway with rock and oil pavement, the construction of a reinforced concrete pedestrian tunnel and the installation of Corrugated iron Pipe Culverts ranging from 36″ to 48″ in diameter.

The completion of this work gave access to that territory along the south side of the Los Angeles River and the north boundary of Griffith Park and opened up a vast area which can be used for recreational purposes. This work also completed a motorway to the city of Los Angeles industrial district, market districts and other areas, and diverts through traffic from the business section of Hollywood, as well as reliving the congestion on San Fernando Road, another major traffic artery.

The total cost of the completed project amounted to $321,781 of which the Federal Government contributed $272,124.” The project employed 41 men on average per month for 4 months.

Comparing a 1938 map to today, most of the road was removed with the building of Forest Lawn cemetery (Hollywood Hills) in 1952.