Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 18, 1970 The Audubon Parkway in western Kentucky was formally opened as a toll road. The inaugural ceremony for this newest addition to Kentucky’s parkways network took place on a windy Friday afternoon at a toll plaza located 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) west of the city of Owensboro. Approximately 300 people attended the event,... Continue Reading →
December 13, 1937 The Reading Railroad’s express passenger train Crusader made its first regular run along a 90.3-mile (145.3-kilometer) route between the Reading Terminal in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey. The train received its name thanks to a contest that offered $250 to the winning entry, which was selected by... Continue Reading →
December 11, 1922 The Nevada State Department of Highways (forerunner of the present-day Nevada Department of Transportation) completed work on a section of road in Humboldt County in the state’s northern region. This 10.8-mile (17.4 -kilometer)-long section was located between the unincorporated community of Stonehouse and the county’s border with Lander County. The work done... Continue Reading →
December 10, 1954 Flight surgeon and U.S. Air Force Colonel John Paul Stapp earned the nickname of “Fastest Man on Earth” when he rode a rocket-powered sled up to 632 miles (1,017 kilometers) per hour in five seconds. The 44-year-old Stapp rode that sled, which was called the Sonic Wind, at Holloman Air Force Base... Continue Reading →
December 5, 1885 A new system of horse-drawn trams (streetcars) was inaugurated in the vicinity of Bridgetown on the Caribbean island of Barbados. At the time, Barbados was a British colony; it has been an independent state and Commonwealth realm (with Queen Elizabeth II reigning as the current monarch) since 1966. As far back as... Continue Reading →
December 4, 2013 The first-ever double roundabout in Ohio was officially opened to traffic at the interchange of State Route 664 (SR 664) and U.S. Route 33 (US 33) in the city of Logan in the southern part of the Buckeye State. This interchange has long been regarded as an important gateway to both Logan’s... Continue Reading →
November 6, 1937 Construction began on the Highland Park Bridge in the northeast area of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This truss bridge was built to carry vehicular traffic across the Allegheny River and between the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Highland Park and the borough of Aspinwall. The structure was specifically intended to replace a narrower bridge downstream that had... Continue Reading →
October 25, 1873 John North Willys, a leading automobile industrialist, was born in Canandaigua, New York. His original career involved selling bicycles, but all that changed when he saw his first automobile in 1899. Willys (pronounced Will-is), realizing the automobile’s potential, started selling models of that type of transportation instead. By 1907, Willys’ high volume... Continue Reading →
October 18, 1910 The efforts of journalist and adventurer Walter Wellman to pilot the first transatlantic flight ended when he had to halt the ambitious trip about 450 miles (643.7 kilometers) east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. With his dirigible America unable to travel any further across the Atlantic Ocean due to both mechanical failures... Continue Reading →
October 11, 2008 The Discovery Bridge, carrying U.S. Highway 81 across the Missouri River and connecting the city of Yankton, South Dakota, with Cedar County, Nebraska, was formally opened in a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by thousands of people. Public officials on hand for this Saturday morning event included Nebraska Governor Tim Heineman; U.S. Senators Tim... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 