Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 10, 1962 The Silverwater Bridge in Sydney, the capital city of Australia’s state of New South Wales (NSW), was officially opened. This structure, which spans the Parramatta River in Sydney’s suburb of Silverwater, was the first concrete box girder bridge built in NSW. Bob Heffron (1890-1978), who was the premier of NSW from 1959... Continue Reading →
November 6, 1926 In Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County, hundreds of people showed up for the official dedication of a still-incomplete vehicular tunnel in Pittsburgh. This tunnel serves as a link between Second Avenue at the South Tenth Street Bridge and – via a section underneath Duquesne University and the Steel City neighborhood known as the Bluff... Continue Reading →
October 29, 1927 In the Canadian province of Ontario, about 15,000 people turned out for the opening of a bridge in the Greater Toronto Area. This bridge, crossing the Don River, was built to serve as a link between the town of Leaside and the township of East York. “The whole of the bridge is... Continue Reading →
October 12, 2018 An inaugural ceremony was held for a two-lane road vehicular bridge in the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste about a month after this structure had been opened to traffic. Timor-Leste (also known as East Timor) is a Southeast Asian country that encompasses the eastern half of the island of Timor; the exclave, municipality,... Continue Reading →
September 17, 2001 In northeastern England’s ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear, a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists in the city and metropolitan borough of Newscastle upon Tyne (more simply known as Newcastle) was opened to the public. This bridge, crossing the River Tyne, serves as a link between the major arts and cultural center... Continue Reading →
The terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals in the vicinity of the World Trade Center in the southernmost part of New York City’s borough of Manhattan; the Pentagon in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area; and – where a hijacked airplane went down after... Continue Reading →
August 31, 1954 Dedication ceremonies were held for an arch bridge crossing the Delaware River between the hamlet of Narrowsburg in Sullivan County, New York; and the village of Darbytown (within the township of Damascus) in Wayne County, Pennsylvania. Construction on this bridge began on April 16, 1953. Approximately 200 people showed up for the... Continue Reading →
August 18, 1957 An arch bridge in the municipality of Fredrikstad in southeastern Norway was opened. The Fredrikstad Bridge crosses the river Glomma and connects the eastern and western parts of the municipality. Crown Prince Olav (1903-1991) officiated at the inaugural ceremony for this bridge. At the time, he had been serving as the country’s... Continue Reading →
August 17, 1923 A vertical-lift bridge crossing the Piscataqua River and connecting the city of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with Badger’s Island in the town of Kittery, Maine, was formally inaugurated. This bridge was dedicated to the memory of American soldiers and sailors who had lost their lives during World War I just a few years... Continue Reading →
August 13, 1955 Nearly four months after it first went into service, the Canso Canal Bridge in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia was formally opened. C.D. Howe (1886-1960), who served as Canada’s minster of trade and commerce from 1948 to 1957, presided at the inaugural ceremony for that rotating swing bridge. This structure crosses... Continue Reading →
