Constitution Avenue Expansion – Washington DC

State:
WASHINGTON-DC

Site Type:
Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels

New Deal Agencies:
Works Progress Administration (WPA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Public Works Administration (PWA)

Started:
1935

Completed:
1936

Quality of Information:
Moderate

Marked:
No

Site Survival:
Unknown

Description

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 install lawn areas and border trees along the route, which traces the northern edge of the National Mall.

The work was probably carried out in 1935-36, when the WPA was very active in road work around the district.  Like all such road work, it is probably invisible beneath subsequent paving and repairs.

Source notes

National Archives, Record Group 69, Records of the Work Projects Administration, “Newspaper clippings file, 1935-1942.”

“District leads states in road work speed,” Washington Post, October 9, 1933, p. 13

“New Deal Projects Aid Many Park Developments in Capital,” Washington Daily News, July 23, 1936.

Site originally submitted by Brent McKee - https://nddaily.blogspot.com on May 30, 2013.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.

Location Info


Constitution Ave.
Washington, D.C. 20418

Coordinates: 38.8921, -77.0456

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