Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 14, 2004 The Millau Viaduct in southern France was officially opened three years after construction on it had begun. This cable-stayed bridge is located near the commune of Millau. The 8,070-foot (2,460-meter)-long Millau Viaduct carries four lanes of the A75 autoroute (motorway) across the gorge valley of a section of the river Tarn. One... Continue Reading →
December 6, 1954 A different type of motor coach bus first rolled off the Mercedes-Benz assembly line in city of Mannheim in what was then West Germany. The 30-foot (9.1-meter)-long 0321H, which was equipped with nine rows of seats and could accommodate up to 37 passengers, made its debut nearly six decades after automotive pioneer... Continue Reading →
December 2, 1961 An airport in northeastern Italy’s region of Friuli Venezia Giulia officially began commercial operations. This airport is specifically located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Trieste, the capital city of Friuli Venezia Giulia. As far back as 1935, that aviation facility had been used as a base for the country’s air... Continue Reading →
November 22, 1990 The Křižíkova station of the rapid transit system known as the Prague Metro was officially opened. As the time, Prague was the capital of Czechoslovakia. The longtime communist rule in Czechoslovakia had ended about a year earlier, and in 1993, that country would be split into the independent states of Slovakia and... Continue Reading →
November 8, 1881 Aviation pioneer and spaceflight theorist Robert Esnault-Pelterie was born in Paris, France. With a strong background in engineering, he made major contributions to the origins of heavier-than-air flight in Europe during the first decade of the 20th century. In 1903, Esnault-Pelterie invented the aileron -- a movable airfoil that could be installed at the... Continue Reading →
November 1, 1876 In the Netherlands, the North Sea Canal was officially opened by the nation’s monarch King William III. The Dutch waterway, which extends from the Netherlands’ capital of Amsterdam to the North Sea at the city of IJmuiden, was built to allow seafaring vessels to more easily reach the Port of Amsterdam. The... Continue Reading →
October 26, 1952 A station of the Stockholm metro was formally opened in the community of Blackeberg in the western section of Sweden’s capital and largest city. Blackeberg metro station was one of 17 stations to be inaugurated on the same date on Line 19 of the Green Line of Stockholm’s rapid system. Blackeberg metro... Continue Reading →
October 21, 1922 The ocean liner RMS Franconia was launched at the John Brown & Company shipyard in the town of Clydebank, Scotland. Operated by the Cunard Line, this ship was the second one named Franconia to serve that company. (The original version of RMS Franconia had been launched in 1910 and was sunk by a German... Continue Reading →
October 14, 1892 The first type of tram service in the city of Belgrade in the Kingdom of Serbia (a region that is now part of the Republic of Serbia) was formally introduced. The government of Serbia’s capital had contracted with Periklos Tziklos, a native of Italy, to build this public transportation system. The first... Continue Reading →
October 13, 1881 A railway station that been constructed in the city of Larvik in southeastern Norway was formally opened. At the time, the present-day Kingdom of Norway was part of the United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway. Larvik Station was built as part of the Vestfold Line in that region of Norway. Construction on... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 