Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 27, 2006 In Los Angeles, a bus station was opened in the neighborhood of Canoga Park in the city’s San Fernando Valley region. This station, which is specifically located on Canoga Avenue, is part of the G Line of the Los Angeles Metro Busway system. Canoga station was built to help address the lack... Continue Reading →
December 26, 1859 At eleven o’clock on a Monday morning, the pilot boat John D. Jones, No. 15, was launched into a section of the East River within the ward of Williamsburg in the city of Brooklyn (now one of New York City’s five boroughs). J.D. Jones had been built by J.B & J.D. Van... Continue Reading →
December 24, 1915 At 4:00 p.m., a recently finished masonry arch bridge in northwest Washington, D.C., made its ceremony-free debut. This Christmas Eve opening was authorized by U.S. Army Major Charles W. Kutz (1870-1951), the military civil engineer member of the three-person Board of Commissioners that governed the city at that time. The completion of... Continue Reading →
December 19, 1903 New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge, which crosses over the East River, was formally opened. This structure was the first major suspension bridge in the United States to have steel towers rather than masonry towers. At the time of its debut, the 7,308-foot (2,227-meter)-long structure also enjoyed the distinction of being the world’s longest suspension... Continue Reading →
December 18, 1989 A commuter rail station in southeastern Florida's city of Boynton Beach was officially opened. This station is part of Tri-Rail, an 80-mile (128.7-kilometer)-long commuter rail system serving the Miami metropolitan area and managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. The line on which Tri-Rail's trains operate is owned by the Florida... Continue Reading →
December 16, 2008 A newly completed bus rapid transit (BRT) line in Mexico’s capital and largest city first went into service. Construction on Line 2 of the Mexico City Metrobús had begun on September 4 of the previous year. The line was officially inaugurated by Marcelo Ebrard, who served as the Head of Government of... Continue Reading →
December 12, 1914 The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) was formally launched. Highway engineers from various states convened that Saturday morning at the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C., to establish an association for addressing their priorities of mutual concern at the national level. (The now-defunct Raleigh Hotel was located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street,... Continue Reading →
December 11, 1937 The ferry Gov. Harry W. Nice was launched in Baltimore, Maryland. This ferry, which had been built by the Maryland Drydock Company, was named after the state’s incumbent governor. His wife Edna Viola Amos Nice, as a matter of fact, was the one who christened the vessel. The Gov. Harry W. Nice ferry could... Continue Reading →
December 9, 1941 Officials at the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway accepted the first of t0 large 2-6-6-6 Allegheny steam locomotives from the longtime Ohio-based manufacturer Lima Locomotive Works. This locomotive type’s numbers are due to the fact that it had two leading wheels, two sets of six driving wheels, and six training wheels. The “Allegheny” in... Continue Reading →
December 6, 1875 Albert Bond Lambert was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He led an eventful life in several decidedly different capacities, which included being a golfer in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics; the president and later chairman of a pharmaceutical company founded by his father (who also helped create the mouthwash Listerine); and police... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 