Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
March 24, 2011 The Arganzuela Footbridge in the central area of Madrid, Spain, was opened to the public. This bridge, which took about 14 months to build, serves as a link between the Arganzuela and Carabanchel districts of Spain’s capital and most populous city. French architect and urban planner Dominique Perrault (born in 1953)... Continue Reading →
May 13, 2022 In the part of the Králický Snĕžník Mountains within the Czech Republic, a suspension footbridge in Dolní Morava -- a municipality along the country’s border with Poland -- was formally opened. This 2,365-foot (721-meter)-long structure is 312 feet (95 meters) off the ground. The footbridge spans the valley of the Mlýnský Stream... Continue Reading →
During the heyday of pedestrianism in the 19th century, Frank Hart firmly established himself as not only a trailblazing African American in that sport but also a formidable participant in major walking competitions across the United States. Hart was born as Fred Hichborn in Haiti in 1856. As a teenager, he immigrated to the United... Continue Reading →
During the 1880s, Elsa von Blumen firmly established herself as a formidable contender in both walking and cycling competitions throughout the United States. Von Blumen, who was originally known as Caroline “Carrie” Kiner, was born to Prussian immigrants on October 6, 1859, and grew up in Oswego County, New York. As a child, Carrie was... Continue Reading →
April 21, 1973 A new section of a shared use path in Northern Virginia was officially opened. This segment, covering 7.5 miles (12.1 kilometers) between the independent city of Alexandria and George Washington’s historic home of Mount Vernon, was built as part of a trail operated and maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The... Continue Reading →
February 22, 1861 Edward Payson Weston began a 478-mile (769.3-kilometer) trip from the Massachusetts State House in Boston to Washington, D.C., to attend Abraham Lincoln’s first presidential inauguration – and he did so using only his two feet for transportation. The 21-year-old Weston undertook this ambitious trip in the first place because of a bet he... Continue Reading →
February 11, 1878 The Boston Bicycle Club was formally established. This club was the first official bicycle organization in the United States, and it took shape a year after the nation’s first periodical focused on that transportation mode – The American Bicycling Journal – had been likewise launched in the capital of Massachusetts. The Boston Bicycle... Continue Reading →
January 13, 1879 Ada Anderson – a 35-year-old Englishwoman widely known as “Madame Anderson” – finished a 28-day-long pedestrian endurance event at Mozart Garden in Brooklyn, New York, that earned her international headlines. The next day’s edition of the Cincinnati Daily Star reported, “Madame Anderson has completed one of the most difficult tasks ever attempted by... Continue Reading →
September 3, 2013 A bicycle-and-pedestrian path on the newly constructed eastern span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (famously nicknamed the Bay Bridge) made its debut. The noontime opening of the completed two-thirds of the path took place the day after the roadway portion of the new span was inaugurated. A segment of the original... Continue Reading →
August 28, 2018 In England’s North East region, the recently completed Northern Spire Bridge within the city and metropolitan borough of Sunderland was opened to pedestrians. This two-span cable-stayed bridge carries the highway A1231 over the River Wear and serves as a link between the Sunderland suburbs of Pallion and Castletown. The 1,102-foot (336-meter)-long structure... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 