Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
February 24, 1914 In the southeastern area of present-day India, a new railway bridge connecting the town of Mandapam on the mainland with Pamban Island was officially opened. At the time of the bridge’s debut, this region was part of an administrative subdivision of British India known as the Madras Presidency. The structure is called... Continue Reading →
February 6, 1872 Civil engineer Robert Maillart was born in Bern, Switzerland. Maillart left a lasting imprint on his profession through his aesthetical approach to bridge construction and his innovative use of structural reinforced concrete for that purpose. Two prominent examples of Maillart’s work are the Salginatobel and Schwandbach Bridges that he designed and built. The Salginatobel... Continue Reading →
January 29, 2018 As a key part of a major reconstruction project in the city of Portsmouth, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) closed the Stark Street Bridge to all vehicular and pedestrian traffic. This structure, dating back to the 1940s and crossing over the U.S. Route 1 Bypass (US 1 Byp), was shut... Continue Reading →
January 24, 1953 The Xiluo Bridge in the western region of Taiwan’s main island was formally dedicated. The bridge, which crosses over the Zhuoshui River, connects Xiluo Township in Yunlin County with Xizhou County in Changhua County. At the time of its debut, the structure – measuring 6,361.7 feet (1,939 meters) in length and featuring... Continue Reading →
January 8, 1927 In the northwestern area of Washington state, a new bridge crossing the Puyallup River and linking the cities of Tacoma and Fife in Pierce County was dedicated. The Puyallup Avenue Bridge had been designed by engineers of the Washington State Department of Highways (now part of the Washington State Department of Transportation)... Continue Reading →
January 2, 1998 A new vehicular bridge connecting Malaysia with the Republic of Singapore was opened to traffic. This bridge crosses the section of the Straits of Johor that is situated between Iskandar Puteri (the southernmost city of continental Eurasia) in the Malaysian state of Johor and the planning area of Tuas in the West... Continue Reading →
December 30, 1824 A now-famous pedestrian bridge was opened in the city of Nuremberg in the present-day Federal Republic of Germany. (At the time of the bridge’s debut, Nuremberg was part of the district of Rezatkreis in the Kingdom of Bavaria.) This bridge, crossing the river Pegnitz, took only four months to build. The classification... Continue Reading →
December 27, 1895 Construction on a record-setting bridge in the Republic of Colombia was completed. The Puente de Occidente (Spanish for “Bridge of the West”), which took eight years to build, is located in northwestern Colombia’s department (administrative subdivision) of Antioquia. The bridge owes its name to the fact that it is in that department’s... Continue Reading →
December 20, 1935 Birchenough Bridge made its debut in what was then the British Crown colony of Southern Rhodesia (now the independent Republic of Zimbabwe). Sir Herbert Stanley, governor of Southern Rhodesia, officially opened the bridge, which was constructed across the Save River (also known as the Sabi River) to serve as a major link... Continue Reading →
December 3, 2015 The first segment of a cycleway (a special path intended primarily for use by bicyclists) was opened in the city of Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island. This route, which is known as the Nelson Street Cycleway, also includes sections that can be used for both bicycling and walking. This initial portion... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 