Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
November 21, 2022 On Norway’s west coast, the second line of a light rail system in the city and municipality of Bergen first went into service. This took place three days after the inaugural ceremony for this new route was held. The second line encompasses 5.6 miles (nine kilometers) between Kaigaten in Bergen’s borough of... Continue Reading →
November 20, 1854 One of the first bridges to be built in the Italian city of Venice was opened to the public. This steel bridge for pedestrians spanned the Grand Canal, which is the main canal crossing Venice’s historic center. While there had been discussions about constructing a bridge in this vicinity as far... Continue Reading →
November 19, 2022 Yerba Buena/Moscone station in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood was officially opened. This underground light rail station, which is a link in the T Third Street line of the San Francisco Municipal Railway’s Muni Metro system, owes its name to both Yerba Buena/Moscone Gardens and Moscone Convention Center in that... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 