Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 19, 1878 The Point Moore Lighthouse in the British crown colony (now state) of Western Australia (WA) was first lit. This 111.6-foot (34-meter) navigational aid is located about three miles (five kilometers) south of the downtown area of the coastal city of Geraldton in WA’s Mid West region. At the time of its debut,... 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 16, 1957 In the state of Western Australia (WA), plans for a major transportation project in the city of Perth moved further towards full-fledged reality. John Digby Leach, who served as WA’s commissioner of main roads from 1953 to 1966, became the catalyst for this milestone when he signed a contract for building a... Continue Reading →
March 15, 2014 The second phase of the construction of the Southern Expressway (formally designated as E01) in Sri Lanka was officially completed with the opening of that segment to the public. This section of the Southern Expressway connects the major cities of Galle and Matara on Sri Lanka’s southern coast. Construction on the Southern... 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 →
March 5, 2009 A short but pivotal extension of the Northeastern Line of the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) was opened between the line’s station in Nong Khai City in northeastern Thailand and – via the First Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge over the Mekong River – the newly built Thanaleng station in the village of Dongphosy... Continue Reading →
March 4, 1911 Anton L. Westgard departed from Denver, Colorado, for what would be a journey of nearly 10 weeks to the west coast. The vehicle that he used for this trip was a 3-ton (2.7-metric ton) motor truck built by the Sauer Motor Car Company of New York and known as the Pioneer Freighter.... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 