[Los Angeles Roadway Bridges]

A city notorious for the traffic today, Los Angeles roads can be seen in repair and construction in this album of five construction projects in or around the city. They are: the building of the Beaudry Avenue under-crossing; the building of the Bonnie Brae Street over-crossing; the widening of the Portero Valley Creek bridge; the building of the City Creek and Plunge Creek flab slab bridges,; and the building of the Heliotrope Drive under-crossing. There are the occasional portraits of the engineers and project managers in the midst of the wood, steel, and concrete that humanize the construction efforts. Images of the quaint, palm-tree lined streets in the heart of downtown L.A., just before the emergence of its towering high-rises and complex highway systems, are particularly jarring.

After the end of WWII, major highways and high-rise corporate office buildings began to emerge in Los Angeles. With the rise of industry on all fronts, 1948 was a sprawling time for the city. Governor Warren had also increased gas tax to move money into multiple construction projects in the California Highway Commission budget. Famously, the Los Angeles Times building was constructed that year in February in the Times Mirror Square building. The Prudential Building followed, finishing construction later that year–the building we know today as Museum Square.