- City:
- Brooklyn, New York, New York City, NY
- Site Type:
- Infrastructure and Utilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
- New Deal Agencies:
- Public Works Administration (PWA), Public Works Funding, Work Relief Programs, Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Completed:
- 1939
Description
According to a digitized project card at the National Archives, the WPA dedicated more than $400,000 in 1935 toward the construction of a new roadway on the Williamsburg Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Manhattan in New York City. Among the improvements, was the construction of a new eastbound lane. WPA Official Project No. 65-97-34.
There were no records in The New York Times confirming WPA involvement with the Williamsburg Bridge. However, newspaper records and National Archives documents prove Public Works Administration (PWA) involvement with such a project, which occurred in 1938-9. The PWA provided a $239,319 grant for the roadway reconstruction; the total project cost was $363,913. PWA Docket No. NY [W]1567. Mayor La Guardia was said to be “boyishly curious about the open grating type of construction through which he could peer straight down at the murky East River.”
Source notes
National Archives; Record Group 69: Records of the Work Projects Administration; Records of the Project Control Division; microfilm publication T935; roll 41.
The New York Times: "OPEN-GRATING SPAN IMPRESSES MAYOR," November 23, 1939.
Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on August 11, 2014.
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