Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 14, 1957 The Administration Committee of AASHO (now known as AASHTO) approved the now-familiar shield used on the Interstate Highway System. The committee made this decision in the wake of several months during which the association’s U.S. Route Numbering Committee sifted through and evaluated dozens of shapes and sizes for a possible route marker... Continue Reading →
January 22, 1884 Samuel Eckels, who would carve out a longtime and consequential career in the development of highways in the United States, was born in the borough of West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh area. In 1905, he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in that region of the Keystone State with a bachelor of... Continue Reading →
December 12, 1914 The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) was formally launched. Highway engineers from various states convened that Saturday morning at the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C., to establish an association for addressing their priorities of mutual concern at the national level. (The now-defunct Raleigh Hotel was located at Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street,... Continue Reading →
November 11, 1914 A meeting that would have a big and far-reaching impact on transportation throughout the United States occurred during the Fourth American Road Congress, which had commenced a couple of days earlier in Atlanta. As Motor Age magazine confirmed, Georgia’s capital city during that week was “a vortex of good roads enthusiasm.” There... Continue Reading →
October 1, 1872 Henry Hooper Blood, who would earn widespread respect in the course of a high-profile career that included serving as chairman of the Utah State Road Commission – a predecessor of the present-day Utah Department of Transportation -- and president of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), was born in the... Continue Reading →
May 2, 1906 Thomas F. Airis, who would become director of the District of Columbia’s Department of Highways and Traffic (a predecessor of the present-day District Department of Transportation) was born in the town of Eau Claire, Wisconsin. He earned his degree in, civil engineering from the University of Wisconsin. In 1929, Airis joined the... Continue Reading →
March 5, 2008 John C. Mackie, who served as Michigan’s state highway commissioner, passed away in Warrenton, Virginia, at the age of 88. He was also the 51st president of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), which is now known as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Mackie was... Continue Reading →
November 13, 1973 Nearly 59 years after being established, the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) achieved another major milestone when the organization officially renamed itself the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). This change, which reflected a broadened mission that would encompass different modes of transportation, specifically took place when... Continue Reading →
March 6, 1913 A large number of highway officials and supporters from all of the states showed up at the Raleigh Hotel in Washington, D.C., for the Second National Good Roads Federal-Aid Convention. This heavily attended conference was held under the auspices of the American Automobile Association (AAA). Laurens Enos, the president of AAA, opened the... Continue Reading →
November 15, 1932 A major milestone for a pioneering highway in northern Virginia with took place with the inaugural ceremony for the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, which had been built by the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to commemorate the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth. The new route, stretching from... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 