Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 26, 1924 The Bear Mountain Bridge in southeastern New York was officially dedicated. This suspension bridge crosses the section of the Hudson River between Bear Mountain Park in Orange County and the town of Cortlandt in Westchester County. At the time of its debut, this structure was the world’s longest suspension bridge -- a... Continue Reading →
November 14, 1938 After two days of being made available exclusively for pedestrians to cross, the newly completed Lions Gate Bridge in the Canadian province of British Columbia was first opened to vehicular traffic. This suspension bridge traverses the First Narrows of Burrard Inlet and links the city of Vancouver with the North Shore municipalities... Continue Reading →
August 14, 1957 The Administration Committee of AASHO (now known as AASHTO) approved the now-familiar shield used on the Interstate Highway System. The committee made this decision in the wake of several months during which the association’s U.S. Route Numbering Committee sifted through and evaluated dozens of shapes and sizes for a possible route marker... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1925 William M. Jardine (1879-1955), who had started serving as U.S. secretary of agriculture on March 5 of that year and would remain in the position until 1929, was a featured speaker at the Mid-West Transportation Conference in Chicago. This conference was held at the now defunct La Salle Hotel at the northwest... Continue Reading →
Fujio Matsuda was born in Honolulu on October 18, 1924. His parents Yoshio and Shimo had both emigrated to Hawaii from Japan. They taught Fujio, who would later be affectionately called “Fuj” -- a nickname ultimately modified to “Fudge” -- to embrace a wide range of traditional Japanese values that included gambare (to persevere), kansha... Continue Reading →
On October 25, 2017, a dedication ceremony was held for a memorial commemorating West Virginia state highway employees who have lost their lives in work zone collisions. The creation of this memorial was spearheaded by the West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH), the largest agency of the West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT). The WVDOH... Continue Reading →
April 15, 1924 The Rand McNally Auto Chum, a highways map guide for car travel throughout the United States, was published. This guide was the first edition of what ultimately became the best-selling Rand McNally Road Atlas. The Auto Chum came out at a time when cars were increasingly embraced and used nationwide, and highways to accommodate... Continue Reading →
April 10, 1951 The Battery Park Underpass, a vehicular tunnel at the southernmost tip of Manhattan in New York City, was officially opened during a noontime ceremony. This underpass is located near the neighborhoods of Battery Park and South Ferry. It serves as a link between Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive (popularly known as... Continue Reading →
January 28, 1988 A cantilever bridge spanning the Ohio River was officially opened. This bridge connects Washington Township (near the city of Portsmouth) in Ohio with the community of South Portsmouth in Kentucky. It was named after Carl D. Perkins (1912-1984), who served as a U.S. congressman from Kentucky from 1949 until his death. Measuring... Continue Reading →
January 22, 1884 Samuel Eckels, who would carve out a longtime and consequential career in the development of highways in the United States, was born in the borough of West Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in the Pittsburgh area. In 1905, he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College in that region of the Keystone State with a bachelor of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 