Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
November 15, 1932 A major milestone for a pioneering highway in northern Virginia with took place with the inaugural ceremony for the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, which had been built by the Bureau of Public Roads of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to commemorate the bicentennial of George Washington’s birth. The new route, stretching from... Continue Reading →
November 4, 1862 In eastern India, a newly completed bridge located at the town of Koilwar and spanning the Son River in the present-day state of Bihar was opened to railway traffic. (This bridge made its debut at a time when that region of India was part of the Bengal Presidency, a subdivision of the... Continue Reading →
November 3, 1911 The Chevrolet Motor Car Company was jointly established in Detroit by racecar driver Louis Chevrolet and recently ousted General Motors founder William C. Durant. Their investment partners included William C. Little and Durant’s son-in-law Dr. Edwin R. Campbell. With a total of 2,999 Chevrolet automobiles manufactured in the following year, this motor vehicle... Continue Reading →
October 31, 1929 The Louisville Municipal Bridge, spanning a section of the Ohio River between the cities of Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, was formally opened. Those attending the dedication ceremony for the four-lane cantilevered truss bridge included public officials from both of those states and also what one newspaper account characterized as “hundreds of onlookers.” ... Continue Reading →
October 21, 1981 In southwestern Pennsylvania, the second and current Sewickley Bridge was officially opened at 10:00 a.m. This steel continuous truss bridge, spanning the Ohio River and linking the borough of Sewickley with Moon Township, carries Pennsylvania State Route 4025 and the portion of the Allegheny County Belt System (a group of limited-access county... Continue Reading →
October 19, 1865 The foundation stone was laid for a bridge to be built across the river Vitava in Prague, capital city of the present-day Czech Republic. (When construction began on that bridge, Prague was the capital of Lands of the Bohemian Crown; two years later, this territory became part of the region of the... Continue Reading →
October 12, 1996 Work was officially completed on a road coursing through a picturesque region of the southeastern United States. The Cherohala Skyway is a 43-mile (69-kilometer) route between the towns of Tellico Plains in Tennessee and Robbinsville in North Carolina. The name for this skyway is a portmanteau of Cherokee and Natahala, referring to... Continue Reading →
September 30, 1958 The New York State Department of Public Works (now part of the New York State Department of Transportation), in an official notification to the government of Westchester County, confirmed that it would begin construction on a long-planned highway in that county. (Westchester County is located in the southeastern region of the Empire... Continue Reading →
September 26, 1981 On the southern coast of mainland Singapore, a viaduct was officially opened to the public. This bridge, which stands at the western end of the East Coast Parkway, carries motor vehicles as well as pedestrians over the Marina Reservoir in that region of Singapore. The bridge was named after Benjamin Sheares, who... Continue Reading →
September 14, 2010 On southwestern India’s Malabar Coast, the first segment of a road in the seaport city of Kollam in the state of Kerala was formally dedicated. This road in Kollam’s neighborhood of Asramam was developed to help reduce traffic congestion in the nearby section of Chinnakada. One of the busiest parts of Kerala,... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 