Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
April 8, 2013 The first segment of the PHX Sky Train, a small-scale automated transit system transporting people within and also to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona’s capital and largest city, was opened to the public. Construction on this 1.7-mile (2.7-kilometer) segment of the PHX Sky Train had begun in 2008.... Continue Reading →
April 7, 1973 In the Philippines, construction began on the Roman Superhighway in the province of Bataan on the island of Luzon. This highway was named after Pablo Roman, Sr., who had served as one of that region's members of the House of Representatives of the Philippines. The Roman Superhighway was completed and opened in... Continue Reading →
April 6, 2015 A station officially designated as Nemocnice Motol (Hospital Motol) was inaugurated as a new stop for passengers using the Prague Metro, the rapid transit system that serves the Czech Republic’s capital city. This surface station is located in the cadastral area known as Motol, which lies within the city’s municipality of Prague... Continue Reading →
April 5, 1899 A bridge near the community of Clifden in the southernmost part of New Zealand’s South Island made its debut. (At the time, New Zealand was a British colony; it became a dominion of the British Empire in 1907 and achieved full autonomy in 1947.) The Clifden Suspension Bridge, which is 365.8 feet... Continue Reading →
April 4, 1985 A vessel named Samuel Risley was officially commissioned as a Canadian Coast Guard ship (CCGS). This vessel, measuring 229.8 feet (69.7 meters) in length, had been built by Vito Steel Boat & Barge Limited and was launched in 1984 at that company’s shipyard in the British Columbia city of Delta. CCGS Samuel... Continue Reading →
April 1, 1938 On the southeastern coast of Scotland, the steam ferry SS South Steyne was launched in Leith by the shipbuilding company Henry Robb, Ltd. This vessel was built for Australia’s Port Jackson and Manly Steamship Company and its ferries operations in Sydney. (The South Steyne owes her name to a section of Manly Beach,... Continue Reading →
March 30, 1986 Richard Arista “Dick” Ward, who served as both Oklahoma’s director of transportation and president of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), died after suffering a heart attack at his home in the city of Stillwater in the north-central region of the Sooner State. He was 66. Ward started... Continue Reading →
March 29, 1998 In Portugal, a cable-stayed bridge that is flanked by viaducts made its public debut in the frequesia (civil parish) of Parque das Nacões in the country’s capital city of Lisbon. This structure, which spans the river Tagus, was named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460s-1524). Measuring 7.7 miles (12.4 kilometers) in... Continue Reading →
March 28, 2003 A long-distance hiking trail was inaugurated on the Isle of Arran, an island off the western coast of Scotland. This 66-mile (107-kilometer)-long trail is called the Arran Coastal Way. It was formally opened by Cameron McNeish, an avid hiker who is considered to be one of Scotland’s leading authorities on outdoor pursuits... Continue Reading →
March 25, 1992 A new airport in the Republic of Malta, a country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, first became fully operational. This airport is in the town of Luqa, which is only 3.1 miles (five kilometers) southwest of Malta’s capital of Valletta. The specific island on which the airport is located... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 