Infrastructure and Utilities Sites

FERA carried out improvement work on Prindsesse Gade (Street) in Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas. The work included "grading, rolling, spreading crushed stone and asphalting.”

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed curbs and gutters along Prospect Avenue in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1936. Notably, WPA workers laid 616 feet of curb during one day one day in late August. The agency also paved the street with macasphalt. Work occurred along Prospect Avenue from Essex to Central Ave.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) paved 34 streets in Hartford, Connecticut, including Prospect Avenue from Park Street to Farmington Avenue, as part of a $2.5 million, two-year paving project begun in 1937. The federal government contributed $1 million.

Prospect Hill Road was constructed by the W.P.A. Project information: "Prospect Hill and Depot Rd. to Fort Devens" Official Project Number: 65‐1‐14‐3047 Total project cost: $100,000.00 Sponsor: U.S. Navy Department

Montpelier's 40th Annual Report details many roadwork projects undertaken in 1934 with Vermont Emergency Relief Administration (VERA) funds, including: "Prospect Street, rock excavation, grading and graveling". Efforts were continued in subsequent years by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) worked to improve what was then known as Prospect Hill Road in Rouses Point, New York. 30 men were to be put to work on the project, scheduled to last between the late fall of 1936 and early 1937.

The WPA built sidewalks in the town of Stoughton, Mass. "The sidewalk project is expected to be completed about October 1 . The sidewalk crew has 14 men and as soon as the Sumer Street sidewalk is finished they will build a new sidewalk on the southerly side of Winter Street from Summer to Water Streets, a distance of 840 feet. From Winter Street they will go to Prospect Street, where they will put in a new sidewalk on the westerly side of the street from Boylston to Seaver Streets, a distance of 1,930 feet."

A series of concrete WPA sidewalks running around the edge of Prospect Terrace, a hillside park overlooking the city.

The Provo River Project was initiated under the provisions of the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) of  1933 (almost surely as a Public Works Administration (PWA) funded project) and approved by President Roosevelt in late 1935.  The Salt Lake Aqueduct was approved in 1938.  Construction began in May 1938 and built by the US Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) with the help of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Most of the features were begun during the New Deal but completed after the Second World War. The key structure of the project, Deer Creek Dam, is located on the Provo River east of...

In 1936, the WPA conducted wind studies at the prospective airport. Between 1938 and 1941, the WPA contributed $380,000 to the airport’s construction and improvements. The airport is no longer operational, but remnants of it are now part of Maui Raceway Park.

The Public Works Administration (PWA) funded an expansion of the Martinez public marina along the Carquinez Strait/Sacramento River.  The city had sought PWA support for expansion plans to what it called the Yacht Harbor since 1934 but was turned down at least twice, according to city council minutes for 1938 and 1939  (Henderson). Nevertheless, an undated PWA project card in the National Archives shows that the project was completed (see images). The marina is still there and very much in use, though various docks and walkways have undoubtedly been replaced over time.    

"In the hilly city of Bisbee the first public stairs were made of wood. They linked parallel streets and provided access to upper and lower neighborhoods. Using funds from the Works Progress Administration, the city replaced a significant number of its public stairs in 1938. The new concrete stairs were designed to a high standard and constructed with uniform treads and risers and well-finished surfaces. Most of the stairs are signed with the USA/WPA logo in the top and bottom landings." (content.library.arizona.edu)

Sanitary sewer, municipal waterworks, and power grid construction projects were all undertaken in Middletown, Delaware during the Great Depression, enabled by federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds. Work began in 1937. (PWA Docket No. DE W1021, X1031)

Public Works Administration project W1026 funded improvements to the Ketchikan waterworks ($7,307), phone system ($4,411), and electric plant ($4,140). Waterworks and phone system improvements were approved 6/22/1938 and the electric plant was approved 7/7/1938. Construction began during August 1938 and was completed between January 1939 and July 1939 on all 3 sites.

In 1943, the Public Works Administration (PWA) (by then part of the Federal Works Administration) funded a new ferry slip and expansion of the public wharf in Martinez.  The government grant was for $77,000, but the city accepted a bid of $72,000 from the Macco Construction company for $5,000 less than that (CC Gazette, 1943).  This project would have been one of the last funded by the PWA, which ended that year. The ferry slip consists of huge timbers sunk in the river bottom (possibly fixed in concrete). The project also expanded the width of the wharf by 12 feet. It...

"The city of Pueblo formerly discharge its sewage into the Arkansas River, which greatly endangered the health of many communities in Colorado and Kansas and which depended upon this river for their water supply. The State board of health required this condition to be remedied and this was done with P.W.A. aid. The equipment at the new plant consists of two digestion tanks each 65 feet in diameter, seven trickling filtration units each 160 feet in diameter, two 80-foot primary clarifiers, and two 80-foot final clarifiers. The sewage volume of Pueblo is abnormally large, considering its population of...

The Civil Works Administration and the Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out new road construction on Puerto Diablo Road in Vieques.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on Puerto Nuevo Road in Vega Baja.

The Puerto Rico Emergency Relief Administration carried out repair and maintenance work in Puerto Real in Vieques.

"San Francisco built Pulgas Water Temple as a monument to the engineering marvel that brought Hetch Hetchy water more than 160 miles across California from the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the Bay Area. The Hetch Hetchy Project had taken 24 years to build through the Great Depression at a cost of $102 million. On October 28, 1934, the roar of Hetch Hetchy mountain water greeted everyone gathered at Pulgas Water Temple to celebrate its arrival. With vivid memories of the fire that had raged unchecked after the Great Earthquake of 1906, the city rejoiced in its new secure, plentiful supply of...

The PWA funded the construction of a pump house for the Syracuse water system. It is unclear whether the structure remains, but a 2014 City Council work session lists a tour of the Jensen Park Pump House on its agenda. It is possible this tour was historical in nature.

In 1936 the Works Progress Administration built the Pumphouse in Bisbee, Arizona. A dam was built above the Pumphouse to hold water which fed underneath the Pumphouse and supplied the city’s fire hydrants. The Bisbee Daily Review, October 2, 1935, reported the city engineer, Ralph Motz, and the CCC engineer, Frank Brunel, “spent yesterday morning looking over the site of a dam to be constructed in wood canyon for flood control and to prevent erosion. ..Water impounded during rainy seasons will be pumped into the city reservoir and stored for use of the fire department.” The pumphouse bears a distinctive oval WPA...

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) undertook a sizable public building improvement project in Brooklyn, New York beginning in 1935.  The project involved the "Improvement of Public Buildings and Offices" at more than 30 locations, including the no-longer-extant water pumping station located at Ocean Parkway and Avenue V.

A 1935 municipal report described extensive PWA support for a town pumping station and pipes to provide better fire protection: "The plan as adopted provided for the erection of a 250,000 gallon stand-pipe on the height of land on the extension of Auburn Street, known as the Long Pond road, the building of a brick automatic pumping station on Columbus Avenue and the erection of a 250,000 gallon water tower on South Main Street in Penacook. To complete the two extra high services it means the laying of a large amount, about 6000 feet, of 12 inch cement lined cast iron pipe....

“Among the major projects on which work still was in progress at the end of the fiscal year is the Punchbowl-Makiki-Nuuanu shortcut now nearing completion, which provides another cross-town main artery for residents of Honolulu and will greatly relieve traffic congestion and existing hazards on present cross-town streets.”

The Civil Works Administration carried out repair and maintenance work on the Punta Tuna Lighthouse Road in Maunabo.

Multiple New Deal agencies: the Public Works Administration (P.W.A.), Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.), Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), and National Youth Administration (N.Y.A.) left an indelible imprint on Purdue University with many notable construction and improvement projects. Robert Topping: Elliott once summarized federal grants and expenditures made since 1933, pat of the national effort to shore up the United States economy. The PWA, for example, had spent $700,000 toward construction of five new buildings—two units of the women's residence halls (Windsor Halls), the Executive Building (Hovde Hall of Administration), a fieldhouse and gymnasium (Lambert Fieldhouse), and an addition to the Purdue Memorial...

Sometimes misattributed to the WPA, early development of this, the first university-owned airport in the country, was undertaken by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA). FERA also built a hangar for the airport.

This bridge is one of many PWA and WPA projects in Washington state: "The Purdy Bridge crosses Henderson Bay near Tacoma. Like the McMillin Bridge, it was an example of Hollow Box construction. The main span of the bridge is 190 feet, which at that time was the longest for its kind. Also noteworthy was the low cost of the project. Completed in 1936, the bridge cost only $62,000, a mere $5.64 per square foot."

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) contributed to the $20,000 Putah Creek Dam project in Winters between 1936 and 1938. The dam has since been removed and the natural floodplain restored.

This concrete bridge across Porter Slough was built under the New Deal by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). A 1941 date stamp is clearly visible (see photograph). The bridge is a 4-span concrete Tee-beam bridge. The span length is 29.9 feet and the total length is 68.9 feet. There is another New Deal bridge across Porter Slough at Leggett Ave., built in 1937, also likely by the WPA.

The since-abandoned Putnam County Airport in Cookeville, Tennessee was built with Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) labor. Tennessee Encyclopedia: "Some of Tennessee's largest WPA projects reflected the arrival of the age of flight. WPA workers helped complete landing fields and airports at Jellico, Cookeville, Lebanon, Jackson, and Milan." A high school now occupies what had been the southern part of the airport.

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a disposal plant in Putnam CT, circa 1936-1937. The WPA-built facilities included the control house and plant filter beds.

Puueo Bridge, crossing the Wailuku River and connecting Puueo and Keawe Streets in Hilo, Hawaii, was constructed with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration (PWA) funds in 1938. The PWA contributed a grant of $45,000 to the project, which cost $113,730. Construction on the bridge began Jan. 19, 1938 and was completed Oct. 8, 1938. The project, listed as Docket No. TH-1062-DS, was part of the PWA’s non federal projects expenditures for the Territory of Hawaii, 1938-1939.

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted work at Dinosaur National Monument at and near the Dinosaur Quarry at the western entrance to the monument, near Jensen, Utah.  WPA workers constructed a 535-foot drainage ditch, about 8 feet wide at bottom and 12 feet wide at top, faced with large, mortared sandstone blocks.   A bridge carries Quarry entrance road across the ditch. A verbal source on-site believes the bridge was also a New Deal construction project, but we have not been able to confirm that.

"Quartz Mountain State Park (since 2002 called Quartz Mountain Nature Park) is one of ten original sites contemplated by the Oklahoma legislature in 1935, when it appropriated twenty-five thousand dollars to create a State Park Commission to work with the National Park Service in securing funds and labor through the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a federal government job program. The legislature asked local residents to purchase the land and donate it to the state. Citizens of Greer County purchased 158.3 acres of land adjacent to Lake Altus for $51.58. Additional acreage has been added over the intervening years, bringing the...

Plans for the Quasqueton Dam were developed in May and June 1934, shortly after the CWA ended. Federal funding was initially provided by FERA. However, the construction took much longer than originally planned, so the completion of the dam was funded in the fall of 1935 by the WPA. As with other New Deal dams in Iowa, the material was supplied by the State Fish and Game Commission, and the labor by the federal government (FERA or WPA). Construction started in June 1934. The dam was 6½ feet high and 250 feet long. It was identified in newspapers more than...

The federal Civil Works Administration (CWA) and, later, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) conducted substantial construction and improvement work at Queen City Park in Tuscaloosa, Alabama during the 1930s. CWA labor constructed roads and tennis courts, and drained fields for baseball diamonds. WPA labor constructed nature walks featuring stone walkways and bridges. The Queen City Park Pool was a WPA project as well.

The Works Progress Administration completed hardsurfacing work on Queen Cross Street in Christiansted.

The Works Progress Administration completed hardsurfacing work on Queen Street in Christiansted.