New Deal Mapping

The Wisconsin State Journal has a great article about the lasting effects of the New Deal. I found one example very interesting. I hope that money spent in today's projects will still be valuable seventy years later.

"In 1940, for example, $17,922 was budgeted to "modernize records in the city engineering office." And in 1939, workers were hired to locate and map all the city's stormwater catch basins.

Nelson, the city engineer, is more than familiar with this mapping work because over the years he has continued to rely on those maps to find out everything from the location of sewers and water mains to the building materials used in old streets. Though most of the information has been transferred to computer, one large map is still used regularly, he added. It's a map that shows different street surfaces at the time. Nelson still has staff drag the map out to check what might be in store for workers demolishing and replacing streets."