Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 2, 1914 In Canada, construction began on the Connaught Tunnel under Rogers Pass in the Selkirk Mountains in southeastern British Columbia. This tunnel carries the Canadian Pacific Railway main between Calgary, Alberta, and Revelstoke, British Columbia, and was built to replace the railroad’s previous routing over the sometimes hazardous Rogers Pass. The tunnel – measuring... Continue Reading →
April 1, 1967 The recently created U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) formally began operations as the 12th federal cabinet department with a considerable amount of fun and fanfare on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Thousands gathered at that park in the nation’s capital for a celebration featuring a broad-based transportation theme and including music from... Continue Reading →
March 29, 1930 The Longview Bridge, spanning the Columbia River, was officially opened. This structure serves as a link between the cities of Longview, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon. The bridge was designed by structural engineer Joseph Strauss, who also played a major role in the creation of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge in California. The... Continue Reading →
March 25, 1932 The Anacapa Island Lighthouse on the entrance to Santa Barbara Channel – a section of the Pacific Ocean between the Southern California coast and the northern Channel Islands – made its debut. Anacapa Island is actually a chain of three small islets; the lighthouse was built on the easternmost islet, which is a... Continue Reading →
March 22, 2016 A pedestrian bridge at the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) was officially opened to foot traffic. The Moody Pedestrian Bridge crosses over a section of West Dean Keaton Street that is near the outer edge of that university’s campus. This bridge serves as a connection between facilities that are part... Continue Reading →
March 18, 1917 Calvin Lambert became the first person to ride a motorcycle to the top of a rugged hill in the city of San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, California. San Juan Capistrano was famous by that time for the then-yearly return of the white-bellied cliff swallows to the city just in time for spring... Continue Reading →
March 12, 1831 Clement Studebaker, a wagon and carriage manufacturer who helped establish and nurture a formidable family legacy when it came to surface transportation, was born in Pinetown, Pennsylvania. He learned the blacksmith trade as a teenager in his father’s shop and later worked as a teacher. In 1852, he and his older brother Henry formally... Continue Reading →
March 11, 1967 The Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine Bridge-Tunnel in Canada was officially opened. This Quebec-based structure, which runs both over and beneath the St. Lawrence River and carries the Autoroute 25 expressway, links the Island of Montreal with the south shore of that river at the city of Longueuil. This bridge-tunnel was named in honor of noted... Continue Reading →
March 9, 1922 The steamship Virginia V was launched on the northwestern coast of Washington State. This steamship had been built with Douglas fir trees by Matthew Anderson of Anderson & Company for the West Pass Transportation Company. The 125-foot (38-meter) vessel was the last of that company’s working steamships named Virginia. Three months after being... Continue Reading →
March 8, 1887 James Buchanan Eads, an internationally renowned inventor and civil engineer, died at the age of 66 while vacationing in the Bahamas. Eads had been born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, in 1820. He was named after his mother’s cousin James Buchanan, who was a U.S. congressman at the time and would go on to... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 