Public Wharf and Ferry Slip (former) – Martinez CA

Description

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 was probably completed in late 1943 or early 1944.

The ferry slip was used for the Martinez-Benecia Ferry for decades, but is now derelict. The rock and dirt fill wharf is still in use as a public walkway and the city has built a fishing pier at the end of it.

It appears that the Works Progress Administration (WPA) had previously done renovation work on the public wharf, in 1935, according to WPA project cards in the National Archives. The work was approved, but further confirmation is needed on whether the project was completed (all evidence would have been erased by the subsequent PWA project).