the end of February 1931 with the city finalizing its engineering plans. The city commissioners ordered the $168,500 widening project to begin on May 13, 1931. A small memorial column, marking the point at which water reached inland during the terrible 1889 Potomac River flood, was moved because of the street widening. The CFA, meanwhile, began to study ways to harmonize the treatment of Constitution Avenue NW, the Lincoln Memorial Grounds, and the Arlington Memorial Bridge. By March 1932, additional funding to complete the widening of Constitution Avenue NW as well as to extend it through Senate Park were still needed. But the House of Representatives declined to approve funding in April 1932. Funding for this part of the project did not come through until December 1932, when Congress ordered $55,200 transferred from the AMBC budget to the city coffers for this construction. The city came up with another $82,100 to finance its portion of the costs. As part of the funding agreement, the city said it would build only a wide street between North Capitol Street and 1st Street NW, an wide street between 1st and 2nd Streets NW, and an wide street between Pennsylvania Avenue NW and 6th Street NW. But a difficult decision about how to link the two sections of Constitution Avenue NW between 3rd and 6th Streets NW remained. Pennsylvania Avenue NW cut diagonally northwest-to-southeast through these three city blocks, and it was not readily apparent how to handle the crossing so that Constitution Avenue traffic could turn right and left from either direction. The section of the roadway between 6th and 14th Streets NW also remained to be widened. But with the Great Depression worsening, highway construction funds were minimal. Completing the widening of Constitution Avenue NW Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as President of the United States in March 1933. Convinced that massive federal spending on public works was essential not only to "prime the pump" of the economy but also to cut unemployment, Roosevelt proposed passage of the National Industrial Recovery Act. The act contained $6 billion in public works spending, which included $400 million for road, bridge, and highway construction. With passage of the act moving forward swiftly, D.C. officials asked Congress on June 12 for the funds to finish widening Constitution Avenue NW. The act passed on June 13, 1933, and Roosevelt signed it into law on June 16. The