Street Paving, Curbs and Gutters - Flagstaff AZ

City:: Flagstaff, AZ
Site Type:: Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels, Sidewalks and Stairs
New Deal Agencies:: Public Works Funding, Public Works Administration (PWA)
Completed:: 1939
Quality of Information:: Very Good
Marked:: No
Site Survival:: No Longer Extant

Description

A substantial street improvement and paving project was undertaken in Flagstaff, Arizona during the Great Depression with the assistance of federal Public Work Administration (PWA) funds. It covered 86 blocks in the central area, now the historic district of the city, and included curbs and gutters. The start date for the project is uncertain but the major work was done in 1938-39.

“A major improvement that would have been long delayed without federal assistance was installing curbs and gutters and paving streets. The project began with a $30,600 PWA grant matching a city 10-year, 3 percent bond issue of $22,000 for curbs and gutters. Then, in 1938 the PWA came across with $84,422, matching about $100,000 in city bonds, and the city’s 86 unpaved blocks got their black-topping in 1938-39.” (Cline, p 314).

While the asphalt paving has undoubtedly been redone over the years, the curbs and gutters along many of the residential streets of the core city are clearly intact (see photos).

Source notes

PWA Docket No. AZ [X]1106, National Archives: Record Group 135: Public Works Administration, Projects Control Division, Entry 52; Indices to Non-Federal Projects, Report No. 5: Status of All Completed Non-Federal Allotted Projects, page 191.

Platt Cline, Mountain Town: Flagstaff's First Century. Flagstaff AZ: Northland Publishing Company, 1994, p 314.

Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on November 24, 2014.
Additional contributions by Richard Walker.