Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
June 27, 1937 On California’s central coast, a major portion of State Route 1 (better known at the time as the Roosevelt Highway, in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt) was officially dedicated in the rugged but picturesque Big Sur region. Thousands of people were on hand to witness the debut of this highway segment... Continue Reading →
The Board of Road Commissioners for Alaska – better known as the Alaska Road Commission (ARC) – was organized by order of U.S. War Secretary (and future president) William Howard Taft to oversee construction of highways in what was then an American territory. The ARC was created in response to a steadily growing demand for adequate... Continue Reading →
A groundbreaking ceremony was held for a pioneering highway between Los Angeles and Pasadena in southern California. Over the course of two decades, the plans for building the Arroyo Seco Parkway had steadily taken shape in response to the mushrooming use of automobiles throughout the region. The festivities marking the launch of construction on the... Continue Reading →
A milestone in the development of American highways took place when the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads issued a certificate of completion for the first project finished under the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916. The project was based in Contra Costa County, California, and it involved a 2.6-mile (4.2-kilometer) stretch of road between the... Continue Reading →
More than three weeks after being completed, the Delhi-Gurugram Expressway in northern India’s National Capital Region was formally opened. This highway, measuring 17.2 miles (27.7 kilometers) in length, connects the Dhaula Kuan neighborhood of Delhi (officially called the National Capital Territory of Delhi) with the city of Gurugram (officially known as Gurgaon until 2016). The... Continue Reading →
Carl von Ghega, who established himself as one of the leading transportation engineers of the Austrian Empire, was born in Venice, Italy. (At the time of von Ghega’s birth, Venice was under Austrian rule.) His father was an Austrian Navy officer, but von Ghega pursued engineering as his life’s work instead. After studying mathematics in... Continue Reading →
Construction began on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway (ITH) – formally classified as Highway 10 – in Canada’s Northwest Territories. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper broke ground on the new project, which was undertaken to provide a long-awaited all-season road connecting the town of Inuvik on the East Channel of the Mackenzie River delta with the community... Continue Reading →
The Connecticut Turnpike was formally opened. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the new expressway were held in the morning at its western terminus in the town of Greenwich and then during the afternoon at the eastern end in the town of Killingly on the Rhode Island border. Abraham A. Ribicoff, Connecticut’s incumbent governor, took part in both... Continue Reading →
A dedication ceremony was held for the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) in the south-central region of Singapore. Josephine Teo, in her capacity as Singapore’s senior minister of state at the Ministry of Transport, officially inaugurated the new expressway. Others on hand for the ceremony included Goh Chok Tong, who had served as Singapore’s second prime... Continue Reading →
The M6 motorway was fully opened in the Republic of Ireland. This road, combined with the M4 motorway, serves as a key connection between the cities of Dublin and Galway. (Motorways constitute the highest category of roads in Ireland; the designation for these routes begins with the letter M and may include up to three... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 