Infrastructure and Utilities Sites

This historic Depression-era bridge was built in 1938-9 and reconstructed in 1968. Bridgemeister: It was a WPA and CCC effort. The CCC Camp discipline and logistics were provided by the US Army, but the construction supervision was provided by the WPA. About 200 Men from the Norrie CCC camp (Ironwood, Michigan) participated in the construction of the bridge and surrounding park. They worked during the cold of winter and rode to and from Camp Norrie in open trucks. Each trip took 1 1/2 hours. The architect of the bridge was 'Oakey' Johnson. The WPA construction foreman was 'Charlie' Johnson. Tom Haapoja provided...

The WPA worked to improve roads throughout Blackfeet Indian Agency , Glacier County, Montana. $7,437 was allocated for such projects in July 1938 alone.

The WPA installed improvements off the Blackstone Boulevard as well, displayed by a plaque found in a manhole cover at the intersection of Mount Avenue and Slater Avenue, Providence. "One of my favorite places in Providence is Blackstone Boulevard, the tree-lined, two-mile stretch of road on the East Side that is a popular destination for joggers, walkers, readers and painters. At both ends of the boulevard, there are tiny plaques in the sidewalk that credit its construction to employees of the Works Progress Administration, the New Deal jobs program that funded everything from highways to playwrights."  

The WPA-built stone wall runs 1000 feet along the Blackstone River through Pawtucket, adjacent to Pawtucket City Hall and Historic Slater Mill. Both of those sites are located on Roosevelt Ave and are on the National Registry of Historic Places. The wall runs from behind 137 Roosevelt Ave to 67 Roosevelt Ave, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, 02860. It was built in 1940 and is still in excellent condition.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved a segment of Bladensburg Rd. NE, from New York Ave. to Twenty-Fourth Place NE. This project assisted regular District of Columbia municipal workers, and was described as follows: “Prior to the widening of Bladensburg Road, an open stream (storm water) paralleled the roadway on its east side for quite a distance to the north. In order to obtain the required width it was necessary to enclose this stormwater in a five-foot sewer. This work was difficult because the banks on each side of the stream consisted of filled ground. The project was completed by the forces...

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted drainage work along a waterway known as Blake's Brook in Ashland, Mass. Living New Deal cannot determine the location of this waterway.

A Boston Public Works Department report cited Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) labor as conducting the following work: "Major repairs were made to Blakemore Street Bridge, in order to increase the load capacity from 8 to 15 tons."

A National Archives photo caption describes a sizable federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) project undertaken in Utica, New York: "300 WPA workers building a new sewer line on Blandina Street, Utica, NY, which replaces an old sewer laid 66 years (ago). This job is being finished in 8 days - 2 days ahead of schedule- working 24 hours daily, 7 days a week. Cost will be $1000 under estimate." (FERI)

Tall rock wall with periodic columns for strength that is capped with concrete. It surrounds 3 sides of a large baseball field. One of the corners has a curved façade. The structure was completed with funds and labor provided by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).

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

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded the construction of the Youngs Creek Bridge No. 1541 in Nallen WV. Excerpt from Legal Advertisement, Notice to Contractors, The Charleston (WV) Gazette, March 18, 1939, p. 11.: “Public Works Administration Projects Docket 1197-F — PWA 3163-A. Tyler County, Blue Bridge No. 1532 and Approaches. Two 40 ft. and one 50ft. Spans Steel I Beam Bridge on Concrete Substructure and grading, Draining, Macadam base with Road Mix Surface. Certified Check $1,000.00. Raymond V. Nolan, District Manger, W. Va. State Employment Service, Parkersburg, W.Va."

The Civil Works Administration built the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington KY. According to the town budget report for 1933, the city share for the airport under CWA was $1,362 as part of a total budget of $22,427 spent in the City by the CWA. In 1946 the first commercial aircraft serve the region via a Delta Air Lines flight on a 21-passenger Douglas DC-3. "Blue Grass Airport is a public airport in Fayette County, Kentucky, United States, 6 miles west of downtown Lexington. Located among world-renowned horse farms and situated directly across from Keeneland Race Course, Blue Grass Airport is the primary...

W.P.A. project description: "Blue Hill River Road and Ponkapoag Trail, Milton; early in 1939 work will be begun on additional improvements at the recreational area adjacent to Hoosicwhisick Pond. The project provides for the construction of 3,250 linear feet of roadway 12-ft. wide, two parking spaces of 17,000 square yards, clearing and grubbing of 145,000 square yards of wooded land and incidental work of grading, laying drains, removing trees, etc."

Description of a W.P.A. project: "Blue Hills Parkway; in the early spring of 1939, work will be started on the construction of a bituminous concrete walk from Kahler Avenue to Canton Avenue. The major items of work are the construction of 6,900 linear feet of 6-ft. wide bituminous concrete walk, regrading, loaming and seeding of 920 linear feet of 9-ft. wide planting space and 4,600 linear feet of 5-ft. wide planting space."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) pursued a number of improvements at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota in 1938. Initial improvement plans called for the “construction of a bathhouse, facilities for picnicking and camping and general recreation.” The WPA also built dams and other structures.  In what was then called Mounds Springs Recreational Reserve, “workers in the WPA (Works Progress Administration) built five structures: a latrine and the upper and lower dams on Mound Creek, which created Upper and Lower Mound Lakes. The rustic style of the structures features native materials such as locally quarried quartzite. Rustic-style architecture, as defined by...

The New Deal was responsible for the original Blue Plains Disposal Plant at the southern end of the District of Columbia, as well as many miles of new sewer lines to collect Washington's growing flow of waste water.  Up to that time, the city discharged millions of gallons of raw sewage directly into the Potomac River, which had become foul. The system and treatment facility have been greatly expanded over time, but the mark of the New Deal is still evident. In 1934, the Washington Post reported that the Public Works Administration (PWA) had allotted $8,000,000 to Washington DC for the...

"The Blue Ridge Parkway is a National Parkway and All-American Road in the United States, noted for its scenic beauty. It runs for 469 miles (755 km), mostly along the famous Blue Ridge, a major mountain chain that is part of the Appalachian Mountains. Its southern terminus is on the boundary between Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the Cherokee Indian Reservation in North Carolina, from which it travels north to Shenandoah National Park in Virginia and offers access to the Skyline Drive, the major north/south artery through the Park. The two All-American Byways are separate and distinct. The Blue Ridge...

Stretching from the Shenandoah National Park, VA, to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC, the Blue Ridge Parkway contains 469 miles of continuous scenic road. Not only did the Parkway create tourism revenue for nearby towns and cities, but it protects 88,000 acres of land and all the species living there, and preserves several historical buildings for the public’s education. The project was first envisioned in 1933 with Franklin D. Roosevelt’s visit to Skyline Drive, VA and Virginia Senator Harry Byrd’s idea to connect it to the new Great Smoky Mountain National Park. In November of 1933, Secretary of the...

"Blue Ridge Parkway tunnels consist of a total of 26 vehicle tunnels constructed along the 469 miles (755 km) of the Blue Ridge Parkway. One, the Bluff Mountain Tunnel, is in Virginia and twenty-five are in North Carolina. The design standards specified a minimum impact on the land. The vehicle tunnels were often constructed to reduce excessive landscape scarring that open cuts would have produced. They are used in areas of steep terrain where ridges run perpendicular to the roadway alignment. North Carolina's more rugged terrain required the majority of the tunnels. Most of the work on the tunnel digging was done by...

The Bluestone Dam began by an executive order of FDR in 1935 with work beginning in 1941 on the dam itself. The Bluestone Dam is constructed with concrete reinforced by steel rods. A unique feature of the dam was the first use of blowing air bubbles into the concrete to help protect from freeze damage. The same technique was used in later dams throughout the nation. In 1997, the Bluestone Dam was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places for federal flood control program of the early to mid-twentieth century, its association to the New Deal programs. It...

The Works Progress Administration built storm sewers from Bluff Street and Third Street to Elk Creek in Clarksburg.

The bridge carrying Blythe Road over a branch of Washburn Creek, ENE of Dayton Township, northeast of Huntington, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1941.

$70,000 from the New Deal federal government went into the grading, paving and structure of a subway and approaches under the AT&SF Railroad on old route 43 on the south end of Colton.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was responsible for construction of the Board of Water and Light Dye Conditioning Plant in Lansing, Michigan. "The Dye Conditioning Plant at 148 South Cedar Street was designed by Lansing architects Lee and Kenneth Black and constructed in 1938-39 by the WPA in a severe, geometric style. It is decorated by WPA/FAP artworks in various media. Appropriate to the building's function, the theme of all of these works is water. This is the best local ensemble of government-sponsored art planned as a unity of architecture, sculpture and painting."

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed an addition to the boardwalk in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1936.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve the boardwalk in in Atlantic City ca. 1935-6. The project included the installation of new decking. The improvements helped the boardwalk to withstand the Cape Hatteras hurricane of 1936.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) reconstructed the boardwalk in Bradley Beach, New Jersey. The project "called for 800 linear feet of boardwalk, 24 feet wide, between McCabe and Newark Aves., and 800 linear feet, 34 feet wide, between Lareine and Fifth Aves. Beadley Beach contributed $8,249 for material and equipment; the federal government contributed $17,769. Construction dates: Oct. 1, 1935 to May 29, 1936.

The Bureau of Reclamation built the Boca Dam in Nevada County CA in the late 1930s.  It is an earth fill dam and part of the Truckee Storage Project, and it is located one mile north of the confluence of the Little Truckee River and the Truckee River.   Also pictured is the original bridge crossing the Truckee River.  All men and materials had to pass over this bridge for work on the dam. The Boca dam is on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1937-38, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved the road to Bodie CA (now CA 270) south of Bridgeport.  Bodie is a relic of a 19th century gold mining boom that had become a ghost town by the mid 20th century.  It was made a California State Park in 1962.  Highway 270 is closed in winter because Bodie stands at over 8,000 feet. The WPA project card in the National Archives states: "Improve Bridgeport - Bodie Road, near Bridgeport, in Mono County, by clearing and grubbing, excavating and filling, installing culverts, surfacing, grading and sloping, and performing appurtenant work. Not a part...

The Civil Works Administration carried out improvements work on Bog-of-Allen Road, to make the road passable for vehicular traffic.

The CCC created Bogus Basin Road, possibly with the assistance of the WPA, which eventually spurred the development of the recreation area. From the Bogus Basin ski resort website: It all started in 1938 when a 24-month WPA road project started the development of Bogus Basin as a recreation site.  A handful of Forest Service experts were called in, of which Alf Engen, founder of the Alta Ski Area in Utah played major roles in site selection.  Three years later, in September of 1941, the non-profit Bogus Basin Recreational Association (BBRA) was incorporated to raise funds and oversee the maintenance of...

"The present construction features of this project are the raising of Arrowrock Dam and spillway for additional storage, and the building of the canal system for the Payette Division. Work has been in progress on Arrowrock Dam during 1936 and is scheduled for completion the latter part of 1937. Contracts have been awarded for eight tunnels on the Black Canyon canal of the Payette Division, four of which are practically complete. Bids have been received and contract will soon be awarded for canal excavation from Station 0 to Station 157. Specifications will soon be issued for canal excavation from...

In 1934 E.R.A. labor drained and cleaned Barre's Bolster Reservoir.

“As a Division of Grazing camp, project work was planned and supervised by DG personnel. The basic mission for the project work was to construct infrastructure in the Bonanza Grazing District to allow orderly management of the public rangelands. Rangelands of the Bonanza Grazing District are located on the high plateau east of Langell Valley, known today as the Gerber Block. The north and east boundaries are the Fremont National Forest and the south boundary is the Oregon-California state line and the Modoc National Forest. Most of the lands were federal public domain managed by the Division of Grazing for...

Boneyard Creek runs through the cities of Urbana and Champaign. In 1934 "Civil Works Administration (CWA) workers completed some maintenance work on the Boneyard Creek in Urbana and Champaign. Work consisted of clearing obstructions to the flow, cleaning channel banks, and stabilizing channel banks with timbers." Today, "Land use in the watershed is virtually all urban (residential, commercial, industrial)... The watershed and the channel have been greatly modified, the natural flood plain is highly developed."   (www.isws.illinois.edu)

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook the following work north of Coulterville: "Improvement of Bone Yard Road; Retaining, widening, sloping, etc." WPA Proj. No. 65-3-2705, November 20, 1935, $3,536

The state acquired the land for Bonham State Park in 1933 from the City of Bonham. The Civilian Conservation Corps developed the 261-acre park, landscaping the rocky, hilly terrain for erosion control and recreational purposes, and constructing an earthen dam to impound a sixty-five-acre lake. CCC Company 894 constructed buildings of local cream-colored limestone and Eastern red cedar, working under the supervision of Bonham architect Joe C. Lair and San Antonio architect William C. Caldwell. The overall design exhibits a WPA rustic style. The CCC built the entrance portal, concession building (currently the park headquarters and storage facility), waterfront storage building...

Dams on the Columbia River for hydropower, navigation and irrigation had been eyed by Northwestern industrial, shipping and agricultural interests well before the New Deal.  The Army Corps of Engineers published a report in 1929 that recommended ten dams on the river and the Bureau of Reclamation also had plans for irrigation development upstream, called the Columbia Basin Project.  The Roosevelt Administration supported both agencies in their pursuits; with funds from the Public Works Administration (PWA) the two anchor dams, Bonneville and Grand Coulee, were begun in 1934. Bonneville lock and dam were built by the Army Corps of Engineers and completed...

The Bonnyview School was expanded in the 1930s with the help of the Public Works Administration (PWA).  At the same time, the Bonnyview grounds were landscaped and   220 feet of rock retaining wall were built, along with entrance steps.  The school district furnished the materials at a cost of $980, while WPA provided the labor from the ranks of locally unemployed men (estimated at three months of work for twenty men). The school has since been demolished and the site left empty, but the elegant rock wall and entrance steps remain (though the concrete steps are deteriorating).

The bridge carrying Booneville Lake Way over Pigeon Creek in Washburn Township, Arkansas, was constructed by the Work Projects Administration (W.P.A.) in 1942.