December 22
| 1912 | Director Logan Page transmits OPR Bulletin No. 43, Highway Bridges and Culverts by Charles H. Hoyt (in charge of Bridge Engineering) and William H. Burr (OPR consultant from Columbia University) to Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson. The bulletin, a revision of Bulletin No. 39, issued September 6, 1911, contains an offer to send an engineer whenever possible to confer with local officials, upon request, concerning bridge needs. The offer results in concern that OPR is trying to compete with private engineers. Director Logan Page responds that OPR's intent was not, and never had been, to compete with private engineers. The bridge and culvert work proposed to be taken up by OPR was wholly of an educational and experimental nature and followed the identical policy pursued during the past 12 or 13 years in the construction of object lesson roads, as a result of which many engineers had found employment where none existed before.
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| 1955 | Following heavy warm rains that melted snow on the mountains in California, Oregon, and Washington, all BPR employees in the San Francisco and Portland Division Offices (equivalent to Region Offices) are put on alert. In California, BPR is given responsibility for emergency assistance in the repair of all highways and streets, not just those on the Federal-aid systems as usual. Over the next few days, the entire staff of the Division 7 Office and the California District Office set to work, but need help from other offices. In all, 38 engineering teams are organized. |
