- State:
- WASHINGTON-DC
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Sanitation and Water Disposal
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1935
- Contractor:
- M. A. Cardo Engineering
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- No
- Site Survival:
- Unknown
Description
In 1933, the Public Works Administration allotted $400,000 for the construction of the Piney Branch Relief Sewer, a storm sewer running from Arkansas and Iowa avenues NW to 5th and Ingraham streets NW, for a distance of 4,600 feet. A contract for the work, in the amount of $326,020, was awarded to the M.A. Cardo Engineering Corporation of New York City. (Washington Post, June 28 and Sept. 1, 1933)
In its June 28, 1933 edition, the Evening Star explained that the Piney Branch Relief Sewer was “needed to prevent floods during heavy rainstorms at Fifth and Ingraham streets and to prevent sewer overcharging and surface flooding at that point and at Seventh and Hamilton streets and at Arkansas avenue and Delafield place, which has caused severe property damage over a period of years.”
Both the Evening Star and the DC Government reported that the Piney Branch Relief Sewer project was underway in 1934-1935, but the exact date of completion is unknown.
This project was part of the massive New Deal era upgrade in the city’s sewage system, with many new sewer lines, separation of storm and sanitary sewers and construction of the city’s first sewage treatment plant at Blue Plains.
Source notes
“30 D.C. Projects Are Outlined For Federal Approval,” Evening Star, June 28, 1933, pp. A-1 and A-2 (accessed March 17, 2020).
“Sewer work begins at once,” Washington Post, September 1, 1933, p. 24
“Protests Blamed For Sewer Delay,” Evening Star, September 28, 1934, p. B-1 (accessed March 17, 2020).
Report of the Government of the District of Columbia, For the Year Ended June 30, 1935, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1936, p. 74.
DC Water Piney Branch Trunk Sewer Rehabilitation Project site
Site originally submitted by Brent McKee - wpatoday.org on March 5, 2015.
Additional contributions by Richard A Walker.
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