Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Morris Luther Shadburn, who became a leading highway official both within his native state of Georgia and on the national level, was born on February 4, 1897, in the Atlanta-area city of Buford. In 1917, he graduated from the Georgia School of Technology (now the Georgia Institute of Technology) with a B.S. in civil engineering.... Continue Reading →
August 11, 1986 Test pilot Trevor Egginton established a new speed record for conventional helicopters. He did so by reaching a speed of 249.1 miles (400.9 kilometers) per hour in a helicopter that he flew in the skies above southwestern England. Egginton was accompanied by flight test engineer Derek J. Clews. The helicopter used for... Continue Reading →
August 10, 2003 In Japan, a monorail line serving the city of Naha on Okinawa Island made its official debut. While Okinawa previously had railroad, trolley, and horse-drawn streetcar services, the Okinawa Urban Monorail (also known as Yui Rail) became the first rail line to operate on the island since World War II. The monorail... Continue Reading →
August 7, 1933 About 56 hours after flying out of New York City, French aviators Maurice Rossi and Paul Codos completed their airborne journey of 5,657 miles (9,105 kilometers) in the town of Riyaq (also known as Rayak) in the present-day Republic of Lebanon. (At the time of this flight, Lebanon was part of the... Continue Reading →
August 6, 1891 In north-central Pennsylvania, trial runs were completed for the inaugural electric streetcars adopted for use in the city of Williamsport. These runs had been launched late the previous night. The first of those vehicles began its trial run at around 11:00 p.m. on August 5, leaving the streetcar depot at Edwin and Campbell... Continue Reading →
August 4, 1900 Jean Joseph Étienne Lenoir, who invented the first practical and commercially successful internal combustion engine, died in the French town of La Varenne-Saint-Hilaire (near Paris) at the age of 78. Lenoir had been born in 1822 in Mussy-la-Ville, which was a community in Luxembourg at the time and is now part of Belgium. An... Continue Reading →
August 3, 1916 In Washington State, the snag steamer Swinomish became the first ship to pass through a complex of locks for the section of the Lake Washington Ship Canal at the west end of Salmon Bay and between the Seattle neighborhoods of Ballard and Magnolia. (A snag steamer is a vessel built to clear... Continue Reading →
July 31, 1907 In Massachusetts, a new bridge spanning across the Charles River and connecting Boston’s Beacon Hill area with the Kendall Square community of Cambridge was officially dedicated. The North Adams Transcript reported, “The structure is unusually well lighted and one of its features which contribute to its reputation as one of the most beautiful... Continue Reading →
July 30, 1952 The Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which connects the Eastern Shore of Maryland with the state’s Western Shore, was opened to traffic. At the time of its debut, this bridge -- with the original span measuring 4.3 miles (6.9 kilometers) in length from shore to shore -- was the world’s longest continuous steel structure... Continue Reading →
July 29, 1913 Paul D. Sargent became the first chief engineer of the newly formed Maine State Highway Commission (MSHC) when his appointment was officially confirmed by Governor William T. Haines and the Executive Council. (The Executive Council was a government body that had been established when Maine became a state in 1820; this council... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 