Infrastructure and Utilities Sites

BridgeHunter.com attributes the Columbus Road Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio as having been constructed with the aid of federal Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) funds.

In 1934, the Public Works Administration (PWA) loaned the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company $7 million for equipment repair, new track installation, and new equipment purchases.  Among the new purchases was the $250,000 Comet, a streamlined Diesel-electric train. The Comet was built in 1935 by the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio. “The Aluminum Co. of America furnished the aluminum alloy sheets and castings. The Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co. made the Diesel engines and electrical equipment” (The Indianapolis Times, 9-7-1935). It began service that same year, running a regular route between Boston, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island. The blue,...

The Bureau of Public Roads provided funds for the construction of a span to carry Comly Road over the railroad in Lincoln Park, New Jersey. The project was undertaken as part of a larger grade crossing elimination initiative during that era. New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners: "A "Works Program-State Highway Department" project on which the Board initiated proceedings and on October 2nd, 1935, issued an order to eliminate the grade crossing. Construction started April 14, 1936, and the project was opened to traffic in January, 1937. Funds from the Bureau of Public Roads were allotted to meet the entire cost of construction."

The WPA carried out construction and improvements on Commandant Gade in Charlotte Amalie. Road construction and improvements carried out by the WPA in the Virgin Islands typically included “clearing the old roadway widening existing curves, blasting rock from the road surface and drains, relocating where necessary, installing culverts, preparing the subgrade and placing the bituminous macadam surface.”

The Works Progress Administration installed new sewer lines on Commandant Gade in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.

Commercial Pier No. 5 was part of a large-scale New Deal redevelopment program for the Washington Channel and Southwest Waterfront area. Construction of the pier began in 1940, by the Penker Construction Company of Cincinnati, Ohio, and was completed in 1941. The Army Corps of Engineers supervised the project and the total cost was about $270,000 (about $5 million in 2020 dollars). About 3,000 cypress and pine logs from Virginia were used to create the pier. Commercial Pier No. 5 permitted a greater exchange of goods in the nation’s capital, and was the result of “many years of agitation” from the business...

In 1939, a dead-end wall was constructed in Salina, Kansas in an area that now sits behind Salina Community Theater. The wall was built by youths who were employed by the National Youth Administration (NYA). The NYA was a division of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) that focused on training, employing, and educating young people between the ages of 16 and 25. Chris Cotten, Parks and Recreation Director of the City of Salina, Kansas tells us that "n April 1939 the Salina Journal reported that 35 NYA youths, working part time and using rubble masonry, were hired to construct 'ten dead-end walls' on...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) photo pictured here describes this project as "removal of island and building of dyke." The work took place in Como Lake Park in Lancaster, New York. The current status and exact location of the dike is unknown to the Living New Deal.

The CWA paved Company Street between 1933 and 1934. “Entire block between Queen and King Cross asphalted and 200 ft. between King Cross and Princess Street also asphalted, balance of block 150 ft. graded ready for stones and asphalt.”

"Conchas Dam is the oldest and one of the largest water projects of the US Army Corps of Engineers in New Mexico. Begun under the New Deal's Emergency Relief Act of 1935, the construction of the dam and associated facilities provided employment for nearly 2400 people. The WPA supported school teachers for the children of the work crews and after the dam was completed, the work camp provided housing for CCC crews building onsite recreational facilities. Today the headquarters building is still in use, and five other units provide housing for staff." -Treasures on New Mexico Trails The following quotes are all...

Town Report, 1934: "We call your attention to several E.R.A. projects which have materially affected the appearance and condition of out town. The elimination of the open culverts on Concord Road have greatly improved the general appearance and also relieved the town of a serious condition caused by their danger to traffic."

The bridge over Coos Bay at North Bend OR was constructed with funding from the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1934-36.  It was one of five PWA-funded bridges over Alsea Bay, Coos Bay, Siuslaw River, Umpqua River, and Yaquina River that completed the Oregon Coast Highway. All but the Alsea River bridge still stand. The Oregon coast highway was developed after 1914 by the state and county highway departments, but money ran out in the Great Depression before the job could be finished.  With the advent of the New Deal, the PWA offered $1.4 million and a loan of $4.2 million...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted a sewer construction project by Coney Island Creek at Shell Road in 1936.

This PWA pumping station is still standing. A 1939 PWA publication described it as follows: "This interesting structure is approached by a wide walk between lawns which leads to the main entrance flanked by sculptured twin representations of Pegasus. The main floor is 12 feet below grade to permit the pumps to be placed below the intake water level, and at the grade level is a gallery extending around the entire building. An overhead traveling crane serves the five electrical pumps which are capable of discharging 13,500 gallons of water per minute at a pressure of 200 pounds per square inch. The...

The Coney Island Wastewater Treatment Plant came into operation in 1935. It was constructed with the help of the PWA.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed a jetty near North Platte, Nebraska: "Project 997" was described as follows: "River protection work at the junction of the North and South Platte rivers east of North Platte. Workmen are constructing a 1,500 foot jetty to a towhead in the middle of the river. The object of this work is to backfill some land and reclaim it for the North Platte airport." The project provided work for seven men.

In 1942, the Washington Post reported the approval of funds for the Federal Works Administration (FWA) to construct more than two miles of water mains in the Congress Heights neighborhood in SE Washington DC.  While there is currently no evidence that funds were cancelled, we have not been able to verify the completion of the work.

A Boston Public Works Department report cited Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor as conducting repair work on the "Eastern Avenue bridge," a.k.a. Congress Street bridge.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve what was then known as Ham Street (since renamed Conley Street) in College Park, Georgia ca. 1936.

WPA Bulletin, 1937: "Springfield- Years of petitioning by residents of Connecticut Avenue for a good road have brought results. The city has started a WPA project to resurface the road."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to a roughly four mile segment of Connecticut Avenue NW from Calvert Street to Chevy Chase Circle, in 1935-36. “The repaving of the roadway in Connecticut Avenue NW, from Calvert Street to District of Columbia line (Chevy Chase Circle), was started last year and is now completed. The street-railway tracks were removed in advance of street paving and the space thus abandoned was paved with standard asphalt pavement. Traffic headers were installed on both sides of the old railway area. The entire project was 17,500 feet long.” This work was part of the $949,496 WPA allotment...

The federal Work Projects Administration worked to improve the Connecticut Hill State Game Management Area (then the Connecticut Hill State Game Refuge) in Newfield, New York during the 1930s. One project was described by the WPA in its project rolls: "learing, cutting boundary fire lanes, planting, constructing, and reconstructing roads" and performing related work.

Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) laborers conducted the following work: South Hadley has the largest project in operation — the construction of a large sea-wall along the east bank of the Connecticut River below the Holyoke dam. Majority of projects involve rip-rap work along the river bank, the building of dikes and retaining walls. The status of this project is unknown to Living New Deal

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to develop what is now known as Connelly Blvd. in Sharon, Pennsylvania in 1934. Then known as Pine Hollow Blvd., work involved "cutting, draining, filling and paving of the boulevard route, from South Dock street to Smith avenue." The project was described at the time of its proposal. Validation is preferred to confirm that project was undertaken, and possibly continued under FERA.

The Cape Vincent Eagle reported that the federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) improved 11 roads in the town of Cape Vincent, New York. "All school bus, milk, and rural mail routes, the roads form an important part of the town's highway system." The project encompassed eight miles of road, and called for "grading, draining, placing base, trimming shoulders and ditches, surfacing and incidental appurtenant work." Roads improved included "Constance, leading from Hell street northwesterly to Clayton-Cape Vincent state highway, five-tenths of a mile."

In 1933, the Washington Post announced the approval of several road surfacing projects funded by the Public Works Administration (PWA) : "Among projects approved here are paving of Sixteenth street, Constitution Avenue, Michigan Avenue, Columbia Road, Foxhall Road, Good Hope Road, New Hampshire Avenue, Benning Road and Conduit Road, widening of E Street back of the White House and widening of Thirteenth Street" (October 9, 1933). Records at the National Archives indicate that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had approved the widening and paving of Constitution Avenue from Virginia Avenue to the Arlington Bridge approach. New Deal workers were also to...

The CWA carried out street improvement work in Convalecencia Town Square, Río Piedras.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) created the mile-long Coon Creek in Iola, Kansas in 1937, as a way of mitigating potential flooding in the city after heavy rainstorms. GetRuralKansas.com: "Coon Creek starts at 803 N. Cottonwood, and winds through Iola from east to west until it gets to the Neosho River. It was constructed using 15,663 square yards of quarried rock and hundreds of hours of back breaking WPA labor. Iola is very grateful for these laborers as shown in the picture below. Without Coon Creek, our streets would flood with every big rain!"

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) rebuilt the Cooney Road bridge after the previous wooden structure was destroyed by flooding in 1936.

“Originally a dogsled trail, it was expanded to a service road and eventually became part of what today is the Sterling Highway (becoming Route 510 in 1957).”

A street improvement project was undertaken in downtown Tarentum as part of a New Deal project, sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA). According to the Pittsburgh Press the project involved "widening Corbet Street between Third and Fourth Avenues." PWA Docket No. PA 1252

WPA created sidewalks and curbs poured as the neighborhood developed between 1939 and 1942.

After constructing a road up to Mount Grant from Cottonwood Canyon, CCC Company 1915 faced "an even more difficult road building job they connected the Cory Canyon Road at the Laphan Divide-Cottonwood roads. These roads were crucial. The town of Hawthorne and the then Naval Depot’s watershed depended on these men to make the road passable in order for the growing town to get fresh drinking water."

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted afforestation and reforestation efforts in what were then known as "Upper Cory" canyon, near Hawthorne, Nevada. The efforts were taken in part for erosion control.

As part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project a combination sewer was built along Cottage St. from Porter St. to Maverick St. P.W.A. Docket No. Mass. 4193-N

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) installed a drain pipe that enabled better drainage for Cottage Street. Middletown Times Herald: "Cottage street drainage will be effected by a reinforced rain pipe which will run from street southerly arid parallel with Wisner avenue to about 200 feet north of Wickham avenue and then easterly and parallel with Wickham to a point near the city line. The pipe will cover a distance of approximately 1,200 feet."

The historic water tower in Monette, Arkansas was constructed as a New Deal-assisted project during the Great Depression. "The Cotter Water Tower is being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places with local significance under Criterion A for its associations with the activities of the Public Works Administration (PWA) in Cotter, Arkansas, in the 1930s. The Cotter Water Tower is also being nominated to the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C as it is the only example of a 1930s-era PWA water tower in Cotter. The Cotter Water Tower is being submitted to the National Register of Historic...

"The Cotton Plant water tower is a historic elevated steel water tower located in Cotton Plant, Arkansas. It was built in 1935 by the Pittsburgh-Des Moines Steel Company in conjunction with the Public Works Administration as part of a project to improve the area's water supply. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, as part of a multiple-property listing that included numerous other New Deal-era projects throughout Arkansas."

The Works Progress Administration built a farm-to-market road connecting Cotton with Amma, in Roane County. Also known at the time as the Left Hand Run Road.

The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) conducted afforestation and reforestation efforts in what was then known as upper Cottonwood Canyon, near Hawthorne, Nevada. The efforts were taken in part for erosion control.