PWA Project I240-R--First Ave. bridge, photo #5 for October 15, 1936, looking north, with excavation underway for the new bridge and some supports in place. The Public Works Administration (PWA) was a New Deal program designed to alleviate the Great Depression. It built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools. Its goals were to spend $3.3 billion in the first year, and $6 billion in all, to provide employment, stabilize purchasing power, and help revive the economy. Most of the spending came in two waves in 1933-35, and again in 1938. Originally called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works, it was renamed the Public Works Administration in 1935 and shut down in 1944.