The Saddle Creek Underpass is located in the
Midtown area of
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...
. Designed to carry Saddle Creek Road under Dodge Street (
US 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6) or U.S. Highway 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the Grand Army of the Republic, American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the United States Numbere ...
), the
underpass
A subway, also known as an underpass, is a grade-separated pedestrian crossing running underneath a road or railway in order to entirely separate pedestrians and cyclists from motor or train traffic.
Terminology
In the United States, as ...
was constructed in 1934 by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
. It was included on the
Bridges in Nebraska Multiple Property Submission
A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...
on June 29, 1992.
About
The
Nebraska Department of Roads ''Biennial Report of 1933-34'' describes the construction of the underpass as featuring "a complete, modern street light system, and interlocking traffic control signal system, two pedestrian subways, and a grade separation of Dodge Street and Saddle Creek Boulevard."
Built by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...
, over of dirt were excavated to lower Saddle Creek Road sufficiently to pass under the overpass. The project was completed in 1934, and was designed to accommodate the westernmost addition to
Omaha's boulevard system, which was originally called Saddle Creek Boulevard. Saddle Creek Road still utilizes the underpass today as it sits between the
Morton Meadows and
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
neighborhoods. As of 2004 the Underpass was the only property listed on the National Register in either neighborhood, although each one has submitted applications to be listed as a historic district.
Nebraska Historic Building Survey: Neighborhoods of Dundee and Twin Ridge/Morton Meadows
City of Omaha. Retrieved 5/20/07.
See also
* Transportation in Omaha
Transportation in Omaha, Nebraska, includes most major modes, such as pedestrian, bicycle, automobile, bus, train and airplane. While early transportation consisted of ferries, stagecoaches, steamboats, street railroads, and railroads, the city' ...
* History of Omaha
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian Coun ...
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Historic bridges in Omaha, Nebraska
National Register of Historic Places in Omaha, Nebraska
Road bridges on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska
Works Progress Administration in Nebraska
Concrete bridges in the United States
U.S. Route 6