Culverts & Drainage Sites

Rural bridge and box culvert constructed in 1938 as part of the WPA "farm to market" road improvement initiative.

In 1933-34, a large number of civil improvements were made to Twin Falls, Idaho by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and Idaho Emergency Relief Administration (IERA). The works were done by relief workers hired from local jobless rolls in the depths of the Great Depression. Both CWA and IERA were funded by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), to the tune of around $250,000. The civic improvements included the City Park band shell, work at the water treatment plant, tennis court at Harmon Park, painting Shoshone Street bridge, grading over 200 blocks of city streets, and graveling 95 blocks of streets.

The Work Projects Administration (WPA) conducted a road improvement project on a county road "between Burdick and highway 50N" (now U.S. 56), which Living New Deal believes to be 2800 Rd., grading, graveling, and improving the road. Existing culverts were enlarged to a width of 28 feet.

Crooked Creek Lake and Dam were created as part of a multi-site flood control program to protect the city of Pittsburgh and Ohio Valley. Work on the project began in 1937 on Crooked Creek near its confluence with the Allegheny River. The earth dam was designed by Captain B.F. Chadwick of the Army Corps of Engineers and constructed by George M. Brewster and Son, Inc of Bogota, New Jersey. The project cost over $4 million and was completed in 1940. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that the lake and dam have prevented over $713 million in flood damage since...

The only New Deal project undertaken in or near Freistatt, Missouri was a culvert constructed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) "between Freistatt and the highway." The location and status of the project is unknown to Living New Deal.

In 1934-1935, the Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania built a differential analyzer, an early type of computer. Designed by Oscar Schuck, it was the second of its kind – the first differential analyzer was constructed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1931. Funds and skilled labor (for example, electricians and instrument makers) came from the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). A government report from Pennsylvania described the differential analyzer: “The machine weighs 3-1/2 tons. It is approximately 30 feet long, 10 feet wide and 5 feet high. It contains...

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) conducted numerous projects in Nome, Alaska, including construction of drains. Per The Nome Nugget: The Nome Committee of the Federal Emergency Relief Administration is still carrying on work in Nome. About ten men are at work constructing a main drain from First Avenue on the corner by the Office of Indian Affairs north to the corner by the U. S. Weather Bureau blocks away. At present the men are digging a ditch for the placing of the drain which is made of wood. A steam boiler is being used to thaw frozen ground. This work is being...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook an extensive project in Middletown, New York to enclose sections of Draper Brook with concrete culverts.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted a project involving the "grading and draining of alleys in the district south of the Pennsylvania railroad" in the east end of East Liverpool, Ohio. Work was completed in Jan. 1934.

Until World War II, the site of present-day Camp Bowie was privately owned agricultural land. It is presently the site of Camp Bowie, a military installation owned by the Texas Military Department. Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Camp 3818(V), active in Brown County from 1935 to 1936, was composed of 250 local veterans (hence the “V”) and was tasked with erosion control and drainage projects on privately owned land around Brown County. A few structures (now in ruins) likely built by CCC Camp 3818(V) remain on what became part of Camp Bowie, a military installation, at the start of World War...

This culvert is L-shaped, with the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) shield showing the year as 1938. The tunnel is concrete and about 2 ft. high by 5 ft. wide. It runs east-west. A paved roadway crosses the culvert into Fuqua Park, site of the WPA armory which is now Stephens County Historical Museum.. The culvert is operational today and handles run-off at the Park entrance.  

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was extremely active in Grand Canyon National Park throughout the New Deal. The CCC enrollees worked under the direction of the National Park Service (NPS) and some of the projects were funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA).  The first CCC camp was established on the South Rim, where Company 819 started working on improvements to the facilities around Grand Canyon Village, the main visitor center for the park, c. 1933-1937. The CCC enrollees built a stone wall along the Rim Trail, the Kolb Studio stairs, the Community Building, rock pillars on Navajo Street, and various paths, culverts,...

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook an extensive project in Middletown, New York to cover sections of Monhegan Brook with "attractive concrete culverts."

Per the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) supplied labor toward projects at "Teller Mission"—presumably referring the community of Brevig Mission (in which the facility was located), Alaska in 1934. The "CWA"* work at the Teller Mission is progressing rapidly under the direction of Miss Mildred Keaton, traveling nurse for this part of the country. Besides building a couple of bridges and digging drains they have made other improvements to the village. * The FERA had succeeded the Civil Works Administration (CWA) by this point; presumably the article means FERA.

This culvert that was constructed by the Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s was part of the infrastructure of the old Highway 81. Today, the curbing on the culvert peeks out of a hedge that partially encloses Fuqua Park in Duncan, Oklahoma.The culvert curbing can be seen in two places which would have been on either side of the old highway. The original Federal Works Progress Administration shield stamp is too greatly eroded to read, and can be faintly seen in these photos.  

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built sidewalks, gutters, curbs and other streets improvements throughout the city of Martinez.  There were two main projects, one starting in 1938 and the other in 1941, according to WPA project cards in the National Archives.   The total funding was around $375,000, a considerable sum for the WPA, so there must have been a large amount of street work, as well, but this was not marked and cannot be identified.  WPA sidewalk stamps can still be found here and there around the older parts of town. Many have been lost to curb cuts and sidewalk replacements...

In 1940-41, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) built several stone-lined culverts for drainage on California state highway 58 – also known as Calf Canyon Road – east of the intersection with route 229, roughly 5-10 miles east of Santa Marguerita CA. These are unusually elegant drainage works, since most culverts do not have rock walls above ground and WPA stamps in the stones.  They were effectively small bridges over gullies, where previously the road dipped and could be flooded in winter. These culverts were part of a program of WPA road work all over San Luis Obispo County during the 1930s,...

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Civil Works Administration, Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and Works Progress Administration, helped to develop Canonsburg, Pennsylvania's Town Park in 1934—1936. In addition to constructing its pool and Park Drive, work relief workers—according to a local the submitter met during a visit in 2017—constructed paths and staircases, stone pillars at park entrances, walls, and picnic facilities. It is unclear exactly to what extent the original Depression-era structures have been preserved. The Works Progress Administration (WPA), "approved an appropriation of more than $10,000 to complete the bath house. Another $20,000 was approved for general improvement of the park...