Infrastructure and Utilities Sites

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airstrip at Shoshoni, Wyoming, created by "grubbing sagebrush and clearing field." A 1950s map shows an airport south of town, at the coordinates below.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Chugwater, Wyoming. The location and status of the facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Farson, Wyoming. There was a landing strip south of the community at the coordinates below.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Kaycee, Wyoming. The location and status of the facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airstrip at Lysite, Wyoming, created by "grubbing sagebrush and clearing field." The location and status of the facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to improve what was then the airport for Rock Springs, Wyoming. Located about five miles north of Rock Springs, the airport is no longer extant; it was replaced in 1942 by what is now known as Southwest Wyoming Regional Airport.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve a municipal airport for Worcester, Mass. It is unclear whether this site is what is now Worcester Regional Airport, or a since-eliminated facility in North Grafton, Mass. Living New Deal suspects that it's the latter facility , given as Worcester Regional Airport construction is said to have not started until 1944; at that point in time the WPA had been liquidated. WPA project details: "Improve airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐14‐486 Total project cost: $262,563.00 Sponsor: Mayor, City of Worcester

The Public Works Administration (PWA) paid for a grade-separation underpass on the Bayshore Highway under the Southern Pacific Railroad tracks in South San Francisco.  The project cost $200,000. The underpass, completed in 1936, doubled the width of an earlier structure built in 1927 and increased its capacity from 4 to 8 lanes (lanes were narrower at the time). This was much desired by the local Chamber of Commerce and, no doubt, by travelers on the Bayshore Highway, the main route south from San Francisco to San Jose. It also  improved access to the San Francisco Airport, which was benefitting from New Deal...

The W.P.A. helped to develop what was then known as the Allentown–Bethlehem–Easton airport, now Lehigh Valley International Airport. Wikipedia: "The airport hangar served as the passenger terminal; the first terminal building at the airport was built in 1938 as a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Big Piney, Wyoming.

The Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) conducted a development / improvement program at what is now known Claremont Municipal Airport. "Develop and improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐13‐18 Total project cost: $118,235.00 Sponsor: War Department "Improve airport" Official Project Number: 265‐1‐13‐13 Total project cost: $101,719.00 Sponsor: Town Board of Selectmen "Develop airport" Official Project Number: 265‐1‐13‐2 Total project cost: $93,979.00 Sponsor: Town Board of Selectmen

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) worked to develop the municipal airport in Cokeville, Wyoming.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop Dubois, Wyoming's municipal airport.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport in Glendo, Wyoming. The location and status of the facility are unknown to Living New Deal.

The W.P.A. worked to develop what is now known as Helena Regional Airport, in Helena, Montana. W.P.A. project info: "Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐168 Total project cost: $201,345.00 Sponsor: City of Helena "Improve municipal airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐71 Total project cost: $169,951.00 Sponsor: City of Helena

The Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) worked to develop the municipal airport in Kemmerer, Wyoming.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) conducted work to develop Manchester, Iowa's municipal airport.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Meeteetse, Wyoming. Work here and in other nearby cities "promised to open that region to air traffic." The location and status of the facility is unknown to Living New Deal.

The W.P.A. worked to develop what is now known as Missoula International Airport, in Montana. W.P.A. project info: "Develop and improve airport" Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐34 Total project cost: $928,324.00 Sponsor: Missoula County

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work at what is now North Platte Regional Airport. "Project 996" involved "levelling land" at the airport.

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airport for Powell, Wyoming, likely Powell Municipal Airport eight miles north of the community. Work here and in other nearby cities "promised to open that region to air traffic."

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) worked to construct / develop an airstrip at Shoshoni, Wyoming, created by "grubbing sagebrush and clearing field." The facility is likely Shoshoni Municipal Field.

The Civil Works Administration built an airport hangar at the Goodland Airport in 1934 in Goodland KS. According to NW Kansas, "ecords from the Sherman County Herald and Goodland Republic show the cost of the entire airport when built was $42,783. In January 1934, the city received $27,000 to begin clearing the ground for three runways, using 70 men hired by the Civil Works Administration."

The federal Public Works Administration helped to provide funding for the construction of an airport hangar during the 1930s (PWA Federal Project No. 223). The airport, under the name Bourne Field, served as a military airfield and, during the early 1940s, the hangar was extended an addition 100 feet. (Navy.mil) The hangar served as the passenger terminal for the Harry S Truman Airport; the building was fully replaced when a new terminal was completed in 1990. The old hangar was most likely demolished between 1980 and the early 1990s. The airport has since been renamed the Cyrus E. King Airport.

The W.P.A. worked to improve what is now known as Billings Logan International Airport, in Montana. W.P.A. project info: “Make improvements to municipal airport” Official Project Number: 165‐1‐91‐66 Total project cost: $295,767.00 Sponsor: City of Billings

The Works Progress Administration contributed $2,306 toward the construction of the airfied in Cordova, Alaska. Formerly operating as the Cordova Army Airfield, the airfield was subsequently closed. The airfield was redeveloped and today serves as the state-owned, public-use Cordova Municipal Airport.

The Works Progress Administration made improvements to the road system in Dallas County. "Improve county-owned road from Orrville to the Wilcox County line in Dallas County, including excavating; clearing and grubbing; grading; draining; dressing shoulders and slopes; constructing base; surfacing; and performing appurtenant and incidental work. Project also includes the operation of borrow pits to produce materials for use on this project. This road is a part of the Federal Aid Highway System. In addition to projects specifically approved." According to a WPA job card, the application was November 1, 1938, approved Nov. 17th, federal manhours added up to 267,120,...

The Civil Works Administration (CWA) installed a 16-inch water main along Alabama Avenue SE in 1933-4. This was at the beginning of an extensive program of building new water mains and sewers all across the District of Columbia by New Deal agencies.

Among the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects identified as completed in an El Paso Times article from June 7, 1936 was the "paving of Alabama Street and Wilson road, 7.36 miles, cost $31,588.94," as well as "Alabama Street spillway flood control project. $6408.23."

The February 1934 issue of California Highway and Public Works describes federal funding for extensive road work from Oakland to Richmond. When the Key System replaced portions of their lightrail trolley with bus service, federal funds helped with track removal and widening of portions of San Pablo Avenue. The work took place in two units. The first was complete removal of the 20 foot central area of the street from Potrero Avenue in El Cerrito to Ashby Avenue in Berkeley. The second unit covered the widening of San Pablo Avenue through the cities of Oakland, Emeryville, Berkeley, Albany, and El Cerrito...

This sub-station of the Municipal Power and Light System of the City of Alameda was constructed with the aid of the Public Works Administration (PWA). The exact date is unknown to us. The old power plant has been demolished and replaced by a housing complex (c. 1970s).  Two auxiliary buildings remain, which appear to be empty and unused.  One can be seen to the left of the former power plant in the photos from the 1930s.

$24,000 was provided by federal funds during the Great Depression for the construction of a bridge carrying Ben Hulse Highway over the Alamo River east of Brawley, California.

Delaware utilized substantial federal resources in developing and improving its road network during the Great Depression. Among the dozens of projects undertaken by the federal Civil Works Administration (C.W.A.) during 1934 was construction along a road through Alapocas Woods (Alapocas Drive). An average of 1,410 were put to work each week during 1934 as a result of the CWA's road, sidewalk, bridge, and other related infrastructure efforts in Delaware.  

The 1,300+ mile Alaska Highway was constructed in 1942 and opened in 1943.  It was built to provide an alternate supply line to Alaska during World War II, an idea the President Roosevelt had proposed to the Canadian government in 1936.  It runs through Canadian Territory but the cost was borne by the United States.   The Alaska Highway was a joint effort of the U.S. Army (Corps of Engineers) and the Public Roads Administration (PRA)—a sub-agency of the New Deal's Federal Works Agency that replaced the earlier Bureau of Public Roads.  The construction was carried out by a host of PRA-contracted...

Albany Street Bridge Over Boston & Albany Railroad. "The city requested a grant from the Government for bridge alterations as follows: Altering and strengthening Boylston Street Bridge; rebuilding Berkeley Street Bridge and rebuilding Albany Street Bridge. The total cost of this work is approximately $265,000 ..." P.W.A. Docket No. Mass. 1584-F.

The bridge carrying Albee Avenue over the newly sunken Staten Island Railway was built in 1940, as one link in a large grade crossing removal project sponsored by the Public Works Administration (PWA).

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) made improvements to a segment of Albemarle Street NW, between Reno Road and Thirty-Eighth Street, in 1938-39.    The WPA graded the road and prepared it for paving with a foundation of salvaged material: “The old material is obtained from old roadways which have deteriorated due to the strain of heavy later-day traffic and were replaced by new standard type pavements.”   “The improvement of this roadway opened up traffic eastward to the new boulevard at Forty-sixth Street NW, between Massachusetts Avenue and River Road, and also served as an entrance to the new private developments in this vicinity.”   This...

"The Alcova Dam is designed for storage and diversion of the river flow into an irrigation canal which irrigates the land around Caspar, Wyoming. The dam is earth fill with a rock surface on the reservoir side. Its height above the foundation is 265 feet, its base thickness 1,250 feet, its crest thickness 40 feet, and the crest length 763 feet. The reservoir formed by the dam has an area of 2,200 acres. The gate structure contains three gates, each 26 by 40 feetm and electrically operated, The project was completed in July 1938 at a construction cost of $2,754,698...

"An earlier bridge that once crossed the Iowa River in Alden had long united the two sides of this small town. However, by the mid-1930s the existing wood structure had "long since seen its best day," according to the Alden Times. In 1935, the Hardin County government sought to replace both the Alden and Steamboat Rock bridges by securing financial assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). In October, the WPA approved the two projects, which were a great boon to Alden's unemployed--used as day labor to help construct the new concrete bridge over the Iowa River. The estimated cost...

Alford St. in Boston, Mass. underwent reconstruction as part of a Public Works Administration (P.W.A.) project.