Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
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 →
October 16, 1965 The Fitzgerald Bridge, which carries Seaham Road across the Williams River in the Australian state of New South Wales, was officially opened. This prestressed concrete bridge was named after Ray Fitzgerald (1879-1963), who served as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1941 to 1962. Measuring 862.7 feet (263... Continue Reading →
September 11, 1935 Ground was broken on the first section of the Appalachian Scenic Highway, which is now known as the Blue Ridge Parkway. These initial building efforts took place along a 12.5-mile (20.1-kilometer) stretch near the western North Carolina-Virginia border, specifically in the vicinity of North Carolina’s Cumberland Knob mountain peak. The ultimate result of... Continue Reading →
August 23, 1992 Gore Hill Freeway in Sydney, Australia’s most populous city and the capital of the state of New South Wales (NSW), was formally introduced to the public in a Sunday morning ceremony. That day’s edition of the Sydney Morning Herald reported, “The $27 million Gore Hill Freeway officially opens today, improving access to... Continue Reading →
August 14, 2011 In northeastern Australia’s state of Queensland, a newly built bridge in the city of Mackay was officially opened. This road bridge, which crosses the Pioneer River, replaced another bridge that had stood at that location for about seven decades. The first of these two bridges was inaugurated on March 30, 1938, by... Continue Reading →
July 23, 1985 A prestressed concrete box-girder bridge in Thailand’s Nonthaburi Province was inaugurated. The bridge carries Rattanathibet Road (Highway 302) across the Chao Phraya River, which is the country’s major river, and connects the area between the subdistricts of Sai Ma and Bang Kraso with the subdistrict of Suan Yai. Construction on this bridge... Continue Reading →
July 3, 1938 On the eve of the United States’ 162nd birthday, NBC Radio conducted a nationwide broadcast commemorating the Lincoln Highway a quarter-century after an association was established to promote that coast-to-coast vehicular road. This radio program featured interviews with several Lincoln Highway Association (LHA) officials who had been instrumental in helping to create ... Continue Reading →
June 24, 1981 The Humber Bridge in northeastern England was opened to traffic. This 7,280-foot (2,220-meter)-long single-span suspension bridge carries the A15 road over the Humber -- a large tidal estuary jointly formed by the rivers Trent and Ouse -- between the town and civil parish of Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank; and the town, civil... Continue Reading →
May 31, 1969 A major tunnel that is located just south of the Belgian city of Antwerp and had been built under the Scheldt river first went into service when it was opened to motor vehicle traffic. Another milestone for this tunnel took place just a little over eight months later when it was opened... Continue Reading →
December 4, 2007 A newly built tunnel in northeastern Spain’s autonomous community of Catalonia was inaugurated. This 3.3-mile (5.3-kilometer)-long tunnel is actually the second of two tunnels that are part of the N-230 road and connect the municipality of Vielha e Mijaran, capital of the administrative entity of Aran, with the comarca (administrative division) of... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 