Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
January 31, 1901 In the northern part of the Massachusetts island of Nantucket, operations began for the current version of a lighthouse at Brant Point on the south side of the island’s harbor. (Nantucket is approximately 30 miles [48 kilometers] south of the Bay State’s Cape Code peninsula.) The New York Times provided details about... Continue Reading →
January 30, 1989 In northern Texas’s Collin County, a bus-only Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) station in the city of Plano was opened. This station is located at the intersection of West 15th Street and Coit Road, and it was built to improve access to public transportation for those living or working in the western... 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 24, 1946 In southern Brazil’s state of Paraná, a major milestone took place for an airport that was completed the previous year. This airport, which had been jointly built by the Brazilian Air Force Ministry and U.S. Army as a military installation during the final months of World War II, was officially dedicated for... Continue Reading →
January 21, 2019 A bridge in the Gambia (officially called the Republic of the Gambia) was opened to the public. This bridge, which connects the country’s northern and southern regions, carries the Trans-Gambia Highway across the Gambia River. Measuring 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) in length, the structure is one of West Africa’s longest bridges. This... Continue Reading →
January 10, 1998 Operations began for a train station in the municipality of Ferraz de Vasconelos in southeastern Brazil’s state of São Paulo. This station is part of Line 11 (Coral) of the Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos (CPTM) , which is known in English as the São Paulo State Metropolitan Trains Company. The CPTM... Continue Reading →
January 9, 1960 In a Saturday ceremony, a cantilever truss bridge in northern Delaware was officially dedicated. This structure, which was named the Summit Bridge after a community in that vicinity of the state, crosses the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal. (This canal connects the Delaware River with the Chesapeake Bay.) The Summit Bridge replaced a... Continue Reading →
January 7, 1813 A little over eight months after construction on it had begun, a wooden bridge crossing the Schuylkill River in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Fairmount was officially opened. This bridge was built by Lewis Wernwag (1769-1843). This structure had a clear span of 340 feet and three inches (103.7 meters) and it became... Continue Reading →
January 3, 2008 A bridge crossing Keppel Bay in the southernmost section of the Central Region of Singapore made its public debut. This bridge carries both motor vehicles and pedestrians between Keppel Island and the mainland. It also carries lines for water, electricity, and other essential services to Keppel Island. Measuring 820 feet (250 meters)... Continue Reading →
December 31, 1932 A railroad bridge crossing the Ohio River between the city of Henderson, Kentucky, and Vanderburgh County, Indiana, was formally opened. This 12,123-foot (3,695)-long structure was constructed by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) to replace the bridge that this company had built in the vicinity during the 1880s. That original bridge, which... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 