Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
September 18, 1896 Edward Orpen Moriarty, a civil engineer who had undertaken a wide range of public works projects across the globe, died in the community of Southsea within the city and unitary authority of Portsmouth in southeastern England. He was 71. Moriarty was born on October 11, 1824, in County Kerry in southwestern Ireland.... Continue Reading →
September 12, 1906 The Newport Transporter Bridge, which crosses the River Usk in the city of Newport in southeastern Wales, was officially opened. This structure is only one of a dozen transporter bridges still in existence today -- a movable bridge that carries a segment of a roadway over a river that other types of... Continue Reading →
September 8, 1966 A dedication ceremony was held for a suspension bridge spanning the River Severn between England and Wales. The Severn Bridge, which connects the unitary authority area (local government seat) of South Gloucestershire in England with the County of Monmouthsire in Wales, was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. Measuring about a mile... Continue Reading →
September 6, 1936 In Oregon, the Yaquina Bay Bridge -- nearly a month before its official dedication ceremony -- was opened to traffic on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend starting at 8:00 a.m. This 3,260-foot (990-meter)-long arch bridge carries U.S. Highway 1 (formally classified as the Oregon Coast Highway) over a section of Yaquina Bay... Continue Reading →
August 31, 2018 A new pedestrian bridge in Boston was formally opened. Construction on the Frances Appleton Bridge, which crosses a major parkway known as Storrow Drive, began in 2016. This bridge was named after Boston-born Frances “Fanny” Appleton (1817-1861). She was married to literary giant Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) from 1843 until her death,... Continue Reading →
August 28, 1940 In northeast Maryland, a bridge carrying U.S. Route 40 across the Susquehanna River was inaugurated. Originally known as the Susquehanna River Toll Bridge, this 7,624-foot (2,324-meter)-long structure connects the city of Havre de Grace in Harford County with the town of Perryville in Cecil County via Garrett Island in the latter of... Continue Reading →
August 22, 2012 In the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina (more widely known as Bosnia), a unique type of pedestrian bridge was officially opened in Sarajevo. This 124.7-foot (38-meter)-long bridge, which crosses the Miljacka river, serves as a link between Radićeva street and the Mak Dizdar street in Bosnia’s capital city. The name for... Continue Reading →
August 7, 1927The Peace Bridge between Buffalo, New York, and the town of Fort Erie in Ontario, Canada, was officially opened. This international bridge, which has since become one of North America’s most vital commercial ports, was built at the east end of Lake Erie and approximately 12 miles (19;3 kilometers) upriver of Niagara Falls.... Continue Reading →
July 26, 2022 The Pelješac Bridge in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, the southernmost county of the Republic of Croatia, was officially opened to motor vehicle traffic. This cable-stayed bridge, which carries a two-lane expressway across Bay of Mali Ston (a bay of the Adriatic Sea), serves as a key connection between Croatia’s peninsula of Pelješac and... Continue Reading →
July 11, 1936 New York City’s Triborough Bridge -- connecting the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx -- was officially opened to traffic. The structure crosses the East and Harlem Rivers as well as the Bronx Kill strait. This bridge is actually a complex encompassing three long-span bridges, a web of viaducts and smaller bridges, and... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 