Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 5, 1914 What are widely regarded as the world’s first electric traffic lights made their debut at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and East 105th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. Alfred A. Benesch (1879-1973), the city’s director of public safety, placed the lights in operation at 5:00 p.m. Those also on hand for that launch included other... Continue Reading →
August 2, 1886 A railway station was inaugurated in the village of Yenice in what is now southern Turkey's Mersin province. Yenice was designated as a town in 1953; since 2013, it has been a neighborhood of the municipality and district of Tarsus. At the time of Yenice station’s opening, this region was part of... Continue Reading →
August 1, 1894 Ottavio Bottecchia, who would achieve widespread renown as a champion cyclist, was born in the comune of Colle Umberto in northeastern Italy. He was the eighth of nine children. Bottecchia had only one year of formal schooling. His earliest jobs included working as a shoemaker and then a bricklayer. After Italy entered... Continue Reading →
July 31, 1989 Savage station, which is based in central Maryland, first went into regular service early on a Monday morning. This station is part of the Camden Line of the MARC commuter rail system and it is specifically located between the communities of Savage in Howard County and Annapolis Junction in both Howard and... Continue Reading →
July 30, 1977 A girder bridge in the city of Taranto in southern Italy’s Apulia region was formally opened to traffic. This 6,263-foot (1,909-meter)-long vehicular bridge crosses the Gulf of Taranto and serves as a link between the city’s areas of Punta Penna and Punta Pizzone. The bridge was built to accommodate the increasingly heavy... Continue Reading →
July 29, 1882 São Thomé Lighthouse in the Brazilian municipality of Campos dos Goytacazes in what is now the state of Rio de Janeiro was officially inaugurated. At the time of this lighthouse’s debut, most of the territory comprising the present-day Federative Republic of Brazil was instead part of the Empire of Brazil. São Thomé... Continue Reading →
July 26, 1820 A dedication ceremony was held for the Union Chain Bridge spanning the River Tweed and serving as a link between the village of Horncliffe in England and the parish of Fishwick in Scotland. At the time of its opening, this structure – with a length of 449 feet (137 meters) – was... Continue Reading →
July 25, 2017 A public transit system in the city of Sidi Bel Abbès in northwestern Algeria was inaugurated by Abdelghani Zaalane, the country’s minister of transport and public works. Construction on the Sidi Bel Abbès Tramway had begun on June 22, 2013. Another milestone for this project took place on April 8, 2016, when... Continue Reading →
July 24, 2010 On the western Black Sea coast of Turkey (officially called the Republic of Türkiye), a two-month series of celebrations continued for the 150th anniversary of when a lighthouse in the district and municipality of Şile first went into service. The big commemorative effort on July 24 involved having this structure -- known... Continue Reading →
July 23, 1985 A prestressed concrete box-girder bridge in Thailand’s Nonthaburi Province was inaugurated. The bridge carries Rattanathibet Road (Highway 302) across the Chao Phraya River, which is the country’s major river, and connects the area between the subdistricts of Sai Ma and Bang Kraso with the subdistrict of Suan Yai. Construction on this bridge... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 