This viewpoint documents the paving phase, using a steam roller, of the street construction project completed in 1938 on Maple Street between Summit Street and S. Prospect Street, using money appropriated by the Works Progress Administration (WPA).  The project, listed as WPA project number 465-21-1-16, included 432 lineal feet and 1300 square yards of street bed.  This photograph illustrates a stage in the project after the completion of the excavation of two to three feet of frozen ground with hand tools and the street had been prepped for paving after being laid with a sand cushion, telford and crushed stone base.  Because the construction took place during the winter months and involved excavating substantial amounts of frozen ground, the cost of the project totaled $10, 007.50, much more than comparable projects completed in the same year.(1)

(1) 73rd Report, 193, 196.

(2) Manning’s Burilington Winooski and Essex Junction Directory for year beginning Septrember 1938 (Springfield: H.A. Manning Company), 18, 151, 224.