{"nrhp_refnum":"07001234","name":"Almeda Road Bridge over Brays Bayou","other_names":["B026-01-001"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"Almeda Rd. at Brays Bayou","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.714604363000035,"lon":-95.38236077699997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-11-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Engineering"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-span continuous concrete girder road bridge carrying Almeda Road over Brays Bayou in Houston, Harris County, Texas, built in 1931 and owned by the City of Houston.","why_significant":"The bridge is a good example of City Beautiful design applied to a concrete girder structure and is one of a few surviving bayou crossings from Houston's 1930s street improvement bond program. It is one of only eleven historic Texas bridges with a neoclassical urn balustrade railing. It is also a later example of the type, since earlier urn-railed bridges in Texas were closed spandrel arches.","narrative":"Carrying four lanes of Almeda Road over Brays Bayou near Hermann Park in Houston, this 149-foot bridge was built in 1931 and remains in use. It has three reinforced concrete girder spans with shallow curves, battered concrete bents, cantilevered sidewalks and a neoclassical urn balustrade railing. City bridge engineer J.G. McKenzie designed it, and contractor Don Hall built it for $33,200 using funds from a 1930 city bond issue. It replaced an earlier timber structure and helped complete the Shreveport-to-Freeport highway through Houston. The bridge reflects the City Beautiful movement in a simplified form. Only eleven historic bridges in Texas have urn balustrade railings, and among them only four Houston bridges, this one included, use concrete girder construction. Although the railing has been damaged and patched with unsympathetic materials, the bridge keeps a high degree of integrity. It was listed for its engineering significance at the state level.","period_of_significance":"1931","architect_builder":"Bridge designer: J.G. McKenzie; Bridge builder: Don Hall","architectural_style":"OTHER: continuous span concrete girder bridge (City Beautiful design with neoclassical urn balustrade)","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a vehicular bridge; the urn balustrade has been damaged and repaired with unsympathetic materials, but the bridge retains a high degree of integrity.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.486655-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/73/9694/40969473/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/07001234.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001234/150e6863f2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001234/150e6863f2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"Patrick Feller","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Almeda_Road_Bridge_over_Brays_Bayou.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Patrick Feller</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Almeda_Road_Bridge_over_Brays_Bayou.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969473","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almeda_Road_Bridge_over_Brays_Bayou","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q28153531"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/almeda-road-bridge-over-brays-bayou-07001234/"}