Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 27, 2006 In Los Angeles, a bus station was opened in the neighborhood of Canoga Park in the city’s San Fernando Valley region. This station, which is specifically located on Canoga Avenue, is part of the G Line of the Los Angeles Metro Busway system. Canoga station was built to help address the lack... Continue Reading →
December 24, 1915 At 4:00 p.m., a recently finished masonry arch bridge in northwest Washington, D.C., made its ceremony-free debut. This Christmas Eve opening was authorized by U.S. Army Major Charles W. Kutz (1870-1951), the military civil engineer member of the three-person Board of Commissioners that governed the city at that time. The completion of... Continue Reading →
December 19, 1903 New York City’s Williamsburg Bridge, which crosses over the East River, was formally opened. This structure was the first major suspension bridge in the United States to have steel towers rather than masonry towers. At the time of its debut, the 7,308-foot (2,227-meter)-long structure also enjoyed the distinction of being the world’s longest suspension... Continue Reading →
December 18, 1989 A commuter rail station in southeastern Florida's city of Boynton Beach was officially opened. This station is part of Tri-Rail, an 80-mile (128.7-kilometer)-long commuter rail system serving the Miami metropolitan area and managed by the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority. The line on which Tri-Rail's trains operate is owned by the Florida... Continue Reading →
December 17, 1925 In the northern part of Sweden, a major railway station in the city of Sundsvall was first opened. The Sundsvall Central Station was designed by Folke Zettervall (1862-1955), who served from 1895 to 1930 as head architect for the government agency known as the Swedish State Railways. The Sundsvall Central Station remains... Continue Reading →
December 13, 1963 The Murchison Highway on the Australian island state of Tasmania was officially opened. This highway, which is located on Tasmania’s West Coast, covers a total of 91 miles (147 kilometers) between the township of Somerset in the north and the town of Zeehan in the south. The inauguration of the Murchison Highway... Continue Reading →
December 10, 2009 A cable-stayed swing bridge in Dublin, the capital city of the Republic of Ireland, was formally opened to pedestrians. Emer Costello (born in 1962), the lord mayor of Dublin, officiated at these inaugural festivities. The bridge was first opened to motor vehicle traffic the next morning. This 403.5-foot (123-meter)-long structure crosses the... Continue Reading →
December 6, 1875 Albert Bond Lambert was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He led an eventful life in several decidedly different capacities, which included being a golfer in the 1900 and 1904 Summer Olympics; the president and later chairman of a pharmaceutical company founded by his father (who also helped create the mouthwash Listerine); and police... Continue Reading →
December 5, 1951 An innovation in facilities for automobiles took place in northwest Washington, D.C., with the debut of the first push button-controlled parking garage. The pioneering Park-O-Mat garage, which was built on K Street between 14th and 15th Streets in the nation’s capital, did not have any ramps, aisles, or lanes. The garage instead relied... Continue Reading →
December 3, 2011 A walking trail that courses through both of New Zealand’s main islands was officially opened. This trail -- better known in New Zealand as a tramping route --is named Te Araroa, a Māori phrase that means “The Long Pathway.” Te Araroa covers approximately 1,900 miles (3,000 kilometers) altogether between Cape Reinga /... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 