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TxDOT is creating an inventory of
transportation facilities built by federal works relief programs during the
Great Depression. We have identified 2,500 masonry features
in highway rights of way, including Texas Centennial markers, culverts, roadside
parks, rock walls and other assorted features. We've also developed interpretative markers for 39 historic roadside parks.
An even larger project is in progress to document historic bridges. More than
1,300 truss and suspension bridges have been surveyed, with 270 documented as
historically significant. A second phase is to inventory 11,000 concrete,
masonry and other types of older historic bridges. This work has allowed us to serve as a
statewide clearinghouse for information on historic bridges and we plan to publish
an illustrated history of historic Texas bridges that will be available to the
public.
A related effort involves reuse of historic bridges earmarked for replacement
when they can no longer handle vehicles. In some cases, the bridge is used for
pedestrian and bicycle traffic at its original site in combination with a new
vehicular bridge. When a bridge must be moved, we work with the
public to relocate the structure for use on hike-and-bike trails, pedestrian
walkways, golf courses, or historic sites.
One of the largest field projects ever tackled was brought about by
widening the North Central Expressway (U.S. 75) in Dallas. The right of way took
in a portion of Freedman's Memorial Cemetery, an almost forgotten 4-acre burial
ground for African Americans that dates to the 1850s. The site was first
surveyed in 1986 and excavations began in May 1990. Archeologists expected to
examine and relocate 20 to 30 graves. The final count was 1,540 after four years
of field work. The project not only set an archeological precedent, but
developed a spirit of cooperation between TxDOT, the city of Dallas and the
community. |
