Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
On January 19, 1967, a recently completed segment of U.S. Highway 49 (US 49) in Mississippi made its official debut. This segment encompassed 16 miles (25.8 kilometers) between the town of Mount Olive and the community of Weathersby (now part of the city of Mendenhall) in the Magnolia State’s south-central region. The dedication ceremony for... Continue Reading →
November 17, 2007 A “rededication” ceremony was held for the McKinley Bridge, which crosses the Mississippi River and links St. Louis, Missouri, with Venice, Illinois. This bridge had been designed by renowned engineer Ralph Modjeski and it first opened in 1907. Contrary to a widespread assumption, the bridge was not named after President William McKinley; the... Continue Reading →
In March 1914, Red Fox James began a journey of approximately 3,000 miles (4,828 kilometers) on horseback from the Crow Indian Reservation in southern Montana to Washington, D.C. He made this ambitious nine-month trip on a horse named Montana. “The ride was made for the purpose of creating interest in a proposal to establish a... Continue Reading →
In 1968, construction began on Puerto Rico Highway 52 (PR-52). This project was completed seven years later. PR-52, which is maintained by the Puerto Rico Department of Transportation and Public Works, covers 67.4 miles (108.5 kilometers) between Puerto Rico’s capital of San Juan in the north and the city and municipality of Ponce on the... Continue Reading →
On November 15, 1958, a dedication ceremony was held for a 1.8-mile (2.9-kilometer) portion of Interstate 65 (I-65) in the south-central region of Tennessee. This segment of I-65 was the first part of the Interstate Highway System in Tennessee to be completed. The Tennessee State Department of Highways and Public Works (the predecessor of the... Continue Reading →
The Tetsuo Harano Tunnels on Hawaii’s island of O’ahu were formally opened during dedication ceremonies on November 23, 1994. The Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) had begun construction on both tunnels in 1990. The Tetsuo Harano Tunnels, which HDOT spokesperson Marilyn Kali described as “the absolute state of the art” at the time of their... Continue Reading →
October 5, 1997 The Lincoln Alexander Parkway, which is also known as The Linc, was formally opened in the city of Hamilton in the Canadian province of Ontario. Measuring 7.8 miles (12.5 kilometers) in length, this municipal expressway connects King’s Highway 403 with the Red Hill Valley Parkway in Hamilton. Plans for the Lincoln Alexander... Continue Reading →
September 25, 1967 In Southern California, a groundbreaking ceremony was held at El Cajon Boulevard and Boundary Street in San Diego for Interstate 805 (I-805). Planning for that route dated back to 1956, the same year in which the Interstate Highway System itself first came into existence. After the groundbreaking ceremony, I-805 was constructed in phases. It... Continue Reading →
As a young engineer, Victor M. Mendez wasted little time deciding what to focus on in his career. “Thinking back, I migrated to transportation very early,” he said in an interview with the Washington Post in 2012. “I remember how satisfying it was to be able to say I helped design and construct a road... Continue Reading →
Michael J. Hoffmann of Minnesota served as president of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) in 1946, in an era when both that association and the United States were moving further away from the World War II years and grappling with the major peacetime challenges facing the nation’s highways. In two key benchmarks... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 