Archives West Finding Aid

The Seattle Municipal Railway, the streetcar system owned and operated by the City of Seattle beginning in 1918, was facing financial instability during the 1930s due to the heavy burden of high bond payments, increasing competition from private car ownership, and poorly maintained tracks and equipment. Some relief was provided through the Rehabilitation Project for Track and Equipment of the Seattle Municipal Street Railway, approved by the the Civil Works Administration, beginning on November 11, 1933. The project was a cooperative effort between the City of Seattle Engineering Department and the Seattle Municipal Railway, assisted by state Civil Works Administration officials. According to project reports at the time, the project was the largest Civil Works Administration project in the state of Washington.

The purpose of the project was to replace the dangerous unpaved portions of the railway tracks with concrete paving slabs. Four-inch-thick pre-cast concrete slabs were manufactured with relief labor at three plants located at Valley Street and Boren Avenue, at East Marginal Way, and at 8th Avenue Northwest and Northwest 42nd Street. In addition, the project entailed the reconstruction of operating equipment for the streetcars, including the restoration of car bodies, the overhaul of car trucks, and the repair of the electrical equipment on the cars.

A 1934 progress report indicates that there were approximately 3000 men employed in all areas of the project, including 1,500 laborers, 450 concrete helpers, 115 concrete finishers, 228 carpenters, 100 reinforcing steel men, 76 foremen, and many other kinds of workers. Workers were taken from the relief roles, and most of the manual labor jobs rotated workers in order to give employment to as many needy men as was possible. Foremen were also taken from relief roles but were not rotated because their experience could not be easily replaced.

In total, crews lined up and surfaced over 32,000 feet of track, laid 651 linear feet of new single track, and placed 24,752 pre-cast concrete slabs. The combined results totaled 19.91 miles of equivalent single track and the rehabilitation and paving of an equal amount of trackage. The project was completed on February 28, 1935 under the supervision of Washington Emergency Relief Administration.