Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
The Tetsuo Harano Tunnels on Hawaii’s island of O’ahu were formally opened during dedication ceremonies on November 23, 1994. The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) had begun construction on both tunnels in 1990. The Tetsuo Harano Tunnels, which HDOT spokesperson Marilyn Kali described as “the absolute state of the art” at the time of their... Continue Reading →
In 1997, Carlos Ismael Noriega made history as the first Peruvian-born astronaut to fly into outer space. He had been born in Peru’s capital city of Lima in 1959. In a 2016 interview with the University of Southern California (USC) News, Noriega discussed his family’s move to the United States. “We came to this country... Continue Reading →
October 5, 1997 The Lincoln Alexander Parkway, which is also known as The Linc, was formally opened in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. Measuring 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in length, this municipal expressway connects King’s Highway 403 with the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton. Plans for the Lincoln Alexander... Continue Reading →
October 2, 1930 USCGC Saranac, one of the Lake-class cutters of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), was officially commissioned as a vessel of that military branch. This cutter had been launched in April of that year at the yards of the General Engineering and Drydock Company in Oakland, California. USCG Captain John Boedker oversaw the... Continue Reading →
October 1, 1936 The Cape Columbine Lighthouse first went into service on the west coast of the Union of South Africa (predecessor to the present-day Republic of South Africa). That area had long been notorious for the hazards to vessels posed by numerous submerged rocks and reefs in the local waters. Both the lighthouse... Continue Reading →
On August 6, 1938, a newly constructed steel through arch bridge was formally opened in Middlesex County in south-central Connecticut. This structure, spanning the Connecticut River and connecting the city of Middletown with the town of Portland, took the place of a drawbridge that had been opened in 1896. The building of a replacement bridge... Continue Reading →
Antonio Valent, the son of a seaman who immigrated to Texas from Spain, was born in 1884 in the town of Point Isabel (now Port Isabel) in the Lone Star State. He launched a fishing business in that region of the Gulf coast in 1902. The market for the fish he caught was initially restricted... Continue Reading →
September 28, 1899 The first electric trams to operate in Perth, the capital city of what was then the British colony of Western Australia, made their official debut. (A little over a year later, Western Australia became a state as part of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia.) The new transit system – owned and... Continue Reading →
September 25, 1967 In Southern California, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at El Cajon Boulevard and Boundary Street in San Diego for Interstate 805 (I-805). Planning for that route dated back to 1956, the same year in which the Interstate Highway System itself first came into existence. After the groundbreaking ceremony, I-805 was constructed in phases. It... Continue Reading →
September 24, 1929 U.S. Army Air Corps (USAAC) Lieutenant James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle, who would achieve lasting fame as commander of the Doolittle Raid during World War II, made his most significant contribution to aeronautical technology when he guided a Consolidated N-Y-2 Husky training biplane over Mitchel Field in New York in what was the... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 