WPA, PWA and subway construction in NYC?

On Nov 26, 4:19 pm, hanco...@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
> On Nov 26, 2:59 pm, "Peter T. Daniels" <gramma...@> wrote:
>
> > The most likely place it would be covered is *722 Miles*, which is an
> > economic history of the subways, which originated as a Columbia
> > dissertation (and reads like it).
>
> Thanks. Read it a long time ago, will have to find a copy somewhere.
> A few things I want to check out in it.
>
> Some dissertations are terribly dry, but some others do make for
> interesting and informative reading. Most are available in college
> libraries. A lot of subway history literature is archived in this
> manner. Many colleges have copies of all sorts of proposals prepared
> by transportation councils, regional planning agencies, national
> transit organizations, and the like. I once got an old one having
> proposals to improve the LIRR. It took many years to implement what
> was suggested and some stuff we're still waiting.*
>
> Of course, nowadays, different institutions have different policies
> regarding admission to their library. One college near me not only
> allows access but even borrowing, but another college won't even let
> you in the door for reference materials without payment of a steep
> access fee.
>
> * I wish someone would write a 'balanced' history of the LIRR. By
> balanced, I mean including information about technical details, such
> as the evolution of MU cars over time, organizational, financial,
> operational, and financial. It seems that many publications are at
> the extreme ends--one would be a bunch of numbers but little to put it
> into context, another would be just many pictures of steam locomotives
> and again little to put it into context. Authors like Lorraine Diehl
> are very good at writing from the point of view of the lay customer,
> but not so good in writing from the point of view of corporate
> management or the technical people. I loved Diehl's Automat and Penna
> Station books, but they left out a lot.

Just a question, wasn't the IND mostly built as a WPA Depression Proj?

Randy

>> I get the WPA and PWA confused. One was headed by Harry Hopkins, the
>> other was headed by Harold Ickes. They two had different

The Public Works Administration (PWA) worked on public buildings like
building post offices and the like; the WPA --Works Progress Administration
was involved projects for benefit of the public at large.

Railroaders will also be interested in the RFC -- Reconstruction Finance
Commission that leant money for worthy private improvements like completing
the PRR electrification -- but also lent money under sometimes flimsy
excuses to try to keep railroads out of bankruptcy (the Erie, for example)
or to repair flood damage (the New Haven in 1938 comes to mind).

The NRA was more about wage and price controls and other things not seen
other than in wartime (OPA) and, of course, made into an art form in the
Nixon Administration.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie

> In thinking about this, I realized that the first chunk of the IND
> opened in 1932, before FDR took office in March 1933. So none of that
> would've been eligible for New Deal funding. Construction slowed down
> quite a bit as a result of the Depression. I don't know if later
> segments like the Sixth Ave subway had Federal funding.

They did. I recall reading that the Fulton St subway in Brooklyn was
the first NY subway built with federal money. Probably also Queens
east of Roosevelt Ave, Crosstown between Nassau Ave and Fulton St, and
Sixth Ave, which are all the later segments of the IND.

Joe Brennan