Road Work and Carmel River Bridge (replaced) - Carmel CA

City:: Carmel, CA
Site Type:: Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Funding, Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, National Recovery Administration (NRA)
Started:: 1933
Completed:: 1934
Quality of Information:: Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: No Longer Extant

Description

In 1933-34, the California State Highway Department expanded and paved a two-mile section of the road behind the town of Carmel (now Highway 1) from the top of the hill down to the Carmel River. They also built the first concrete bridge across the Carmel River.

The work was paid for by the Public Works Administration (PWA), or as it was officially known when created under the National Recovery Act of 1933, the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works.

This section of highway has been expanded further and repaved in recent years and the Carmel River bridge has been replaced with a newer, larger version.

California Highway and Public Works magazine reported in early 1934: “Between the Carmel River and Carmel, a distance of about 1.9 miles, the road is being graded to a 36-foot road and the selected material surface is being treated by the road mix method. This project is financed under the National Recovery Act of 1933, and is expected to be completed in May. At the southerly end of the above project a new bridge across the Carmel River is under construction. This is a reinforced concrete structure with a 24-foot roadway and a 2-foot sidewalk on each side.”