Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
August 25, 1930 Approximately 25,000 people were on hand for the grand opening of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in southeastern New York. This bridge, which measures about 3,000 feet (910 meters) in length, carries traffic over the Hudson River between the city of Poughkeepsie and the hamlet of Highland. This structure was the world’s sixth longest suspension... Continue Reading →
August 16, 1951 At a minute past midnight, the Delaware Memorial Bridge linking Delaware with New Jersey was officially opened to traffic. Motorists had been lined up for up to 20 hours beforehand to travel over the newly built 2,150-foot-long bridge across the Delaware River, and the first person to make that drive (approaching the structure... Continue Reading →
June 11, 1910 In Oregon, a statewide campaign promoting the need for improved roads officially ended in the city of Medford in the southwestern corner of the Beaver State. This campaign, which was sponsored by the state’s good roads advocates, had been launched on May 16 in the city of Ontario in eastern Oregon. One... Continue Reading →
May 4, 1935 In the southwestern corner of Michigan, a new milestone for travel in the United States took place with the opening of the nation’s first official highway welcome center at a state border to assist tourists. The new travel lodge and information bureau was built along U.S. Highway 12, south of the city of... Continue Reading →
Over the years, construction barrels – officially known as “drums” in the United States – have become well-established mainstays of many road construction areas. The distinguishing features of construction barrels include their alternating white and orange reflective bands. These barrels are typically used to help make drivers aware that they are approaching a work zone... Continue Reading →
Advance warning signs have long been one of the defining features of road construction and maintenance areas across the United States. The Road Work Ahead sign, which serves as a crucial means of alerting drivers that they are approaching such an area, is one of the more familiar and readily identifiable temporary diamond-shaped fixtures regularly... Continue Reading →
April 16, 1914 Public officials and other good roads advocates from both Arizona and neighboring New Mexico met at a country club in the Warren District community of southeastern Arizona’s city of Bisbee. “The occasion assumed all of the qualities of an interstate love fest,” proclaimed the Arizona-based Bisbee Daily Review newspaper. Just over two... Continue Reading →
Joan Newton Cuneo, who played a trailblazing role for female race car drivers, was born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, in 1876. She was the last of four daughters born to Leila Vulte and John Carter Newton. Joan’s strong interest in transportation took root early on in her life. As a child – and under her indulgent... Continue Reading →
The State Board of Public Roads of Rhode Island was established in 1902 to oversee the construction, maintenance, and improvement of the Ocean State’s highways system. Up until the establishment of this board, there had been no state-level entity in place to supervise and monitor work on public roads within Rhode Island; those duties were... Continue Reading →
Between 1920 and 1923, the Illinois Division of Highways (IDH) --now part of the Illinois Department of Transportation -- oversaw a series of tests to help determine the best type of pavement to use on that state’s roads. IDH launched these tests at a time when it was preparing for major construction projects to accommodate... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 