The Saddle Creek Underpass is located in the
Midtown area of
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County, Nebraska, Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. List of ...
. Designed to carry Saddle Creek Road under Dodge Street (
US 6
U.S. Route 6 (US 6), also called the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, honoring the American Civil War veterans association, is a main route of the U.S. Highway system. While it currently runs east-northeast from Bishop, California, to ...
), the
underpass
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
was constructed in 1934 by the
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...
. It was included on the
Bridges in Nebraska Multiple Property Submission 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; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, in ...
, 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 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 C ...
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