Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
July 31, 1962 A steel beam bridge in Washington, D.C., was officially opened. This bridge was built to carry the 12th Street Expressway over the Washington Channel, a body of water that parallels the Potomac River. Originally known as the Washington Channel Bridge, this structure was inaugurated with considerable fanfare. These festivities, which included a... Continue Reading →
July 28, 1835 A major milestone for the Boston and Providence Railroad (BPRR) took place with the completion of Canton Viaduct on that line. This viaduct in the town of Canton, which is approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. Canton Viaduct was designed by William Gibbs McNeill (1800-1853), a captain in the... Continue Reading →
July 25, 2013 Operations began for Kualanamu International Airport in Indonesia’s province of North Sumatra. This airport is located in Deli Serdang Regency, which is about 14 miles (23 kilometers) east of North Sumatra’s capital city of Medan. A little over eight months after the “soft opening” of Kualanamu International Airport, a formal inauguration of... Continue Reading →
July 24, 2010 In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), a large-scale facility for the maintenance of trains made its debut in the Western Sydney suburb of Auburn. The Auburn Maintenance Centre (AMC) was officially opened by John Robertson (born in 1962), who had become NSW minister for transport on May 21 of... Continue Reading →
July 17, 2024 In southern Italy, operations officially began for a new segment of the rapid transit system serving the city of Naples. The start of regular service for this extension of Line 6 of the Naples Metro took place the day after Gaetano Manfredi, who has been mayor of the city since 2021, joined... Continue Reading →
July 15, 2018 In the Indonesian province of Central Java, the second phase of construction on a controlled-access toll road was officially completed with the opening of the segment of that route between the district of Kartasura and Sragen Regency. This section was inaugurated by Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (born in 1961), who served as president... Continue Reading →
July 14, 2012 A bridge for pedestrians and cyclists in Portland, Oregon, made its public debut. This structure is officially named the US Congresswoman Darlene Hooley Pedestrian Bridge at Gibbs Street. Hooley, who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon from 1997 to 2009, had staunchly championed the construction of... Continue Reading →
July 11, 1867 A railway station in the village of Blue Mountain in the Australian colony (and present-day state) of New South Wales first went into service. This village, located on one of the eastern slopes of the Blue Mountains, had been established as far back as 1817. It was formally known as Christmas Swamp... Continue Reading →
July 8, 2013 The Sveti Ilija Tunnel in central-southern Croatia was officially opened. This tunnel carries the D76 state road through a 5,387-foot (1,642-meter)-tall mountain ridge known as Sveti Ilija (Saint Elijah). This ridge, which is part of the Biokovo mountain range, was named after a prophet in the Old Testament. The Sveti Ilija Tunnel... Continue Reading →
July 7, 1942 Exactly seven months after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, Gulfport Army Airfield in southern Mississippi was opened as a small but still pivotal part of the United States’ overall involvement in World War II on the side of the Allies. This airport in the city of Gulfport was built by the U.S. Army... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 