| FROM: |
Public Information Section Work Projects Administration 70 Columbus Avenue, New York City Circle 6-4000, Ext. 786 |
August 16, 1939 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Lieut. Col. Brehon Somervell, Work Projects Administrator for New York City, made public yesterday a tabulated summary of the physical accomplishments of the WPA Division of Operations in the five boroughs during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939. The Division of Operations is the organization's construction and engineering division.
Various types of public buildings head the list, with 308 new structures erected and 635 buildings repaired and modernized during the year, including 30 additions. Work in progress on June 30, not included in these totals, comprised 76 new buildings, and repairs and improvements to 230 buildings, including 13 additions. New buildings in progress included two public schools, four fire houses, three police stations, seven aircraft hangars, three warehouses and five garages. Repairs were in progress on 18 schools, 27 hospital buildings, 11 administrative buildings and 17 recreational buildings. In the slum clearance program, 2,072 buildings were demolished during the year.
A total of 190.2 miles of new highways were constructed, of which 151 miles were paved, and 211.6 miles of existing highways, including 107.4 miles of paved road, were repaired. New road construction in progress at the end of the period totalled 45.5 miles of which 36 miles were paved. One of seven new bridges built was a steel structure 2,000 feet long. At the end of the period, repairs were in progress on 11 steel bridges, totalling 14,065 feet in length. Related highway work completed during the year included 218.4 miles of new curbs laid, with 42.5 miles of curb still in progress, 20 miles of guardrails and guardwalls, and 21,047 feet of roadside drainage ditch dug. New sidewalks totalled 150.9 miles, of which 123.7 miles were paved, and an additional 28.4 miles of paved sidewalks and eight miles of unpaved paths were in progress at the end of the year.
Recreational facilities built during the year, exclusive of buildings, include 10 new athletic fields and the remodelling of eight others; and fourteen new parks, squares and triangles, adding 210.3 acres to the city's park system, with renovation work on 25 existing park areas totalling 16,868 acres. Fifteen new school playgrounds were constructed during the year and repairs were made to twelve others. New playgrounds constructed for the Department of Parks totalled 43, with repairs to nine others. Fourteen new wading pools were built. On June 30, work was still in progress on seven more new athletic fields, one new park area of 9.7 acres and the repair of areas totalling 1,541.9 acres, three new school playgrounds and 24 Department of Parks playgrounds, twenty new wading pools, 82 tennis courts, 152 handball courts and eight skating rinks.
Completed additions to the city's water supply system included 106.3 miles of water mains, with 11.1 miles more in progress. The modernization and extension of the city's sewer system comprised the construction of 54.3 miles of new sanitary and storm sewers and the repair and rebuilding of 34 miles of existing sewers, with 5.6 miles of new sewers still uncompleted at the end of the period. Marsh drainage and mosquito control work included the digging of 308.3 miles of new drainage ditch, the newly drained area amounting to 6,076.5 acres, and repairs to 45.6 miles of existing ditch. Drainage pipe laid in addition to that laid for roadside drainage totalled 15.6 miles.
In waterfront improvements, repairs were completed to 18 piers with an area of 1,087,829 square feet and two abandoned piers were demolished. Two new piers with an area of 54,750 square feet are now being built for the city.
Two breakwaters were built, an existing breakwater was repaired, a total of 3,327 linear feet of bulkheads was built and repairs were made to 12,198 feet of existing bulKheads. Retaining walls snd revetments to a total length of 19,461 feet were built and additional walls aggregating 4,690 feet in length are in progress.
Two power houses with a total capacity of 2,000 kilowatts are in course of construction. Thirty-three miles of electric transmission and power distribution lines, and 6.7 miles of telephone and telegraph lines were laid. In the expansion of the police traffic signal and fire alarm telegraph systems a total of 141.4 miles of cable was laid in underground conduits, the work entailing the digging of the ditch, the laying of the conduit and pulling the cable through. Work is in progress on an additional 7.4 miles of these lines. Five miles of steam distribution lines were laid.
Exclusive of park work, the WPA carried on landscaping operations on 672.4 acres, with work on 411 acres still in progress.
The tabulated summary of completed work in Greater New York for the fiscal year from July 1, 1938 to June 30, 1939 follows:
NEW REPAIRS AND
CONSTRUCTION IMPROVEMENTS
PUBLIC BUILDINGS 308 633
Schools 85
Libraries 20
Recreational Buildings 7 9
Hospitals 65
Baby health stations and other
institutional buildings 19 5
Courthouses and other administra-
tive buildings 8 101
Dormitories 6 23
Fire houses 4 63
Police stations 15
Garages 17 25
Aircraft hangars 4
Warehouses 9 51
Armories 12
Other buildings 238 155
DEMOLITION OF BUILDINGS 2,072
HIGHWAYS
Highways - paved 151 miles 104.4 miles
Highways - unpaved 40.8 miles 92.3 miles
Bridges 7 54
Culverts 10 22
Sidewalks - paved 123.7 miles 80.8 miles
Sidewalks and paths · unpaved 27.2 miles 6.7 miles
Curbs 218.4 miles 110.2 miles
Gutters 15.7 miles 1 5. miles
Guard rails and guard walls 20.1 miles 0.6 miles
Lights for roads and streets 326 149
Roadside drainage - ditch 21,047 feet 1,520 feet
Roadside drainage - pipe 6,571 feet 12 feet
Roadside landscaping 23.5 miles 18.1 miles
Street signs made 27,800
Removal of car tracks 13.1 miles
AIRPORTS
Runways 3,032 feet
Air beacons 1
Air markers 377
RECREATIONAL FACILITIES
Athletic fields 10 8
Parks, squares and triangles 14 25
Playgrounds - school 15 12
Playgrounds - other 43 9
Wading pools 14 20
Tennis courts 61
Handball courts 191
Horseshoe courts 79
Skating rinks 6
Bridle paths 1.6 miles
WATER SUPPLY
Water mains 106.3 miles 53 miles
Consumer connections 5,955
Storage tanks 5
Gate houses 1
Water treatment plants 4
Pumping stations 1 4
SEWERS AND DRAINAGE SYSTEMS
Storm and sanitary sewers 54.3 miles 34 miles
Service Connections 2,492 4,948
Manholes and catch basins 4,878 1,696
Septic tanks 13
Sewage treatment plants 10
Mosquito control - ditch 308.3 miles 46.5 miles
Mosquito control - area drained 6,076.5 acres 106.2 acres
Mosquito control - spray used 56,464 gallons
Drainage pipe laid (other than
roadside) 15.6 miles
PIERS, BREAKWATERS, RIVERFRONT IMPROVEMENTS
Piers repaired 18
Piers demolished 2
Breakwaters 2 1
Bulkheads 3,327 linear ft. 12,198 linear ft
River bank improvements 2.4 miles
Stream bed improvements 6.5 miles
Riprap 5,504 square yards
Retaining walls and revetments 19,461 linear ft. 6,110 linear ft
ELECTRICAL LINES
Transmission lines 20.9 miles
Power distribution lines 12.2 miles
Consumer connections 141
Telephone and telegraph lines 6.7 miles
Police traffic and fire alarm signals 141.4 miles
LANDSCAPING
Landscaping (exclusive of parks) 358.3 acres 211 acres
Lighting airports, packing lots,
athletic fields, etc 879 acres 68 acres
Fountains and ornamental pools 36
Fencing 40.7 miles 8.3 miles
MISCELLANEOUS CONSTRUCTION
Paving (other than roads, walks and
runways) 809,791 sq. yds. 44,313 sq. yds.
Tunnels 1,300 feet 6,276 feet
Monuments and historic markers 12,760
Gas lines 8,975 feet 6,321 feet
Excavation or fill 10,981,472 cu. yds.
Clearing and grubbing 1,619.9 acres
Grading 740 acres 529.7 acres
Setting benches 5,399
PRODUCTION OF ARTICLES
Concrete articles 100,475
Cement blocks 1,250,379
Wooden articles 12,403
CONSERVATION ACTIVITIES
Planting beach grass 75.5 acres
Trees and plants planted 7,507
Trees trimmed 11,890
Noxious plant eradication 52.5 acres
Spray treatments (except
mosquito control) 185.5 acres
Surveys conducted 58
MISCELLANEOUS
Articles of furniture repaired 9,178
Public buildings cleaned 30
Lots cleared 9,461.6 acres