Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 14, 2003 A cable-stayed pedestrian bridge was officially opened in New Taipei City’s Tamsui District in northern Taiwan. Since the dedication ceremony took place on Valentine’s Day, the new structure was given the name Tamsui Lover’s Bridge. The bridge, which measures approximately 644 feet (196.3 meters) in length, is a part of Fisherman’s Wharf... Continue Reading →
February 11, 1987 Construction started on a tunnels system in the Shing Mun area within the section of Hong Kong known as the New Territories. This project was completed about three years later. The Shing Mun Tunnels were formally opened on April 19, 1990, by David Wilson, who served as the representative of the British... Continue Reading →
February 10, 1941 A unique type of transportation for delivering mail via highways in the United States made its inaugural run. This means of mobility was the Highway Post Office, a large motor vehicle that had been specially outfitted to help process and move the mail as quickly as possible over long distances. The origins... Continue Reading →
February 9, 1933 Scottish aviator James A. Mollison, flying a de Havilland Puss Moth high-wing monoplane that he named “The Heart’s Content,” completed the first solo east-west airborne crossing of the South Atlantic Ocean. This unprecedented flight ended with Mollison landing at the city of Natal in northeastern Brazil at 1:20 p.m. He arrived there... Continue Reading →
In December 2006, Joan Higginbotham became the third African American woman to fly into outer space. The first African American woman to do so was Mae Jemison, who made her pioneering flight in 1992. About five months before Higginbotham’s spaceflight, Stephanie Diana Wilson became the second African American woman to journey into space when she... Continue Reading →
February 7, 1867 William Dargan, widely considered to be one of the most significant Irish engineers of the 19th century, died in Dublin at age of 67. He had been born in 1799 in the town of Carlow in southeastern Ireland. Dargan’s public works career began in earnest in 1819 when he secured a job... Continue Reading →
February 4, 1883 Stephen Latchford, a U.S. diplomat who became one of his country’s foremost authorities on aviation law and a key influence when it came to that mode of transportation, was born in Annapolis Junction, Maryland. Perhaps Latchford’s birth in a community that owed its name to being a rail junction presaged a transportation-themed career... Continue Reading →
February 3, 2014 A newly completed bus station in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of the state of Kerala in southwestern India, was opened for public use. This 7.4-acre (3-hectare) transit complex is specifically located in the neighborhood of Thampanoor in the central part of Thiruvananthapuram. Thampanoor bus station (also known as Central bus station) was... Continue Reading →
February 2, 1870 As a bicycle craze swept across Europe, the first-ever official race in Italy involving that type of transportation took place. The increased popularity of bicycles owed a lot to two key developments in France during the previous decade -- the launch of the first pedal-equipped bicycle; and the Michaux Company’s subsequent mass production... Continue Reading →
Bobby Charles Wilks, who was born in St. Louis in 1931, achieved several key “firsts” as an African American aviator. In 1956, he graduated with a commission of ensign from the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Reserve Officers’ Candidate School in New London, Connecticut. Not long after receiving this commission, Wilks was assigned as a flight student... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 