Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
May 4, 1935 In the southwestern corner of Michigan, a new milestone for travel in the United States took place with the opening of the nation’s first official highway welcome center at a state border to assist tourists. The new travel lodge and information bureau was built along U.S. Highway 12, south of the city of... Continue Reading →
Hard hats, which are also called safety hats, long ago became an essential part of the personal protective equipment for workers in road construction areas across the United States. This type of helmet is worn by those individuals to help cushion the head against blows from motor vehicle crashes, flying objects, and other causes of... Continue Reading →
Throughout most of its existence to date, National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) has featured national kickoff events to officially launch those annual spring campaigns focused on the need for safe driving in road construction areas. In 2000, the kickoff ceremony for the first NWZAW took place in Springfield, Virginia. It was specifically held near... Continue Reading →
Over the years, construction barrels – officially known as “drums” in the United States – have become well-established mainstays of many road construction areas. The distinguishing features of construction barrels include their alternating white and orange reflective bands. These barrels are typically used to help make drivers aware that they are approaching a work zone... Continue Reading →
In the time since the first National Work Zone Awareness Week (NWZAW) was held in April 2000, that week has served as a yearly means of calling nationwide attention to both the need for drivers to be extra cautious when traveling in the vicinity of construction work zones and the importance of remembering the individuals... Continue Reading →
Advance warning signs have long been one of the defining features of road construction and maintenance areas across the United States. The Road Work Ahead sign, which serves as a crucial means of alerting drivers that they are approaching such an area, is one of the more familiar and readily identifiable temporary diamond-shaped fixtures regularly... Continue Reading →
April 23, 1838 A significant advance in transatlantic travel took place with the arrival of the wooden paddle-wheel steamship SS Great Western in New York City. This vessel, which was designed by the accomplished civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and owned by England’s Great Western Steam Ship Company, was the first steamship specifically built for... Continue Reading →
April 21, 1890 Frank E. Weaver launched a coast-to-coast trip, pedaling out of New Haven, Connecticut, on a four-foot (1.2-meter)-high bicycle built by the Eagle Bicycle Manufacturing Company. The 19-year-old Weaver was originally from New Bedford, Massachusetts, but had lived in New Haven for four to five years. Weaver established himself as one of the most accomplished... Continue Reading →
April 16, 1914 Public officials and other good roads advocates from both Arizona and neighboring New Mexico met at a country club in the Warren District community of southeastern Arizona’s city of Bisbee. “The occasion assumed all of the qualities of an interstate love fest,” proclaimed the Arizona-based Bisbee Daily Review newspaper. Just over two... Continue Reading →
April 15, 1941 Aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky set a new record when he made the first helicopter flight in the United States as well as the entire Western Hemisphere that lasted more than an hour. He flew a Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 helicopter in the skies above his factory in Stratford, Connecticut, and managed to keep that aircraft... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 