Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
On Wong, who is better known today by his nickname Ah Louis (pronounced Ah-Lou-ee), was born in China in 1840. Sometime between 1856 and 1861, Ah Louis left China for California to seek his fortune. His efforts to mine for gold were unsuccessful, so he instead started working for several years as a laborer at... Continue Reading →
April 16, 2003 In Argentina, a major portion of the east-west road known as National Route 7 was opened to traffic in the province of San Luis. San Luis is located near that South American country’s geographical center, and the portion of National Route 7 that was built within the province is 137 miles (221... Continue Reading →
April 2, 2017 In India, a record-setting road tunnel was formally opened in the state (now union territory) of Jammu and Kashmir by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. This inaugural ceremony took place at the end of the tunnel located near the town and tehsil (administrative subdivision) of Chenani. Following the ceremony, Modi traveled in... Continue Reading →
April 1, 1913 A legislative measure creating the first highway agency in Arkansas officially went into effect. This measure had been signed into law only the day before by Acting Governor Junius Marion Futrell. (As president of the Arkansas Senate, Futrell was acting governor because of Joseph Taylor Robinson’s resignation from that office so that... Continue Reading →
March 18, 1940 With the first day of spring only a couple of days away, the California Division of Highways (part of the present-day California Department of Transportation) announced that a section of U.S. Route 50 (US 50) in the Golden State that had been blocked by snow was again available for traffic. This section... Continue Reading →
February 5, 2016 In Delaware, a groundbreaking ceremony took place for a highway project to help reduce congestion and strengthen commerce along a significant portion of the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The focus of this project was on building a new version of U.S. Route 301 (US 301) in Delaware. This new 13-mile... Continue Reading →
December 4, 2013 The first-ever double roundabout in Ohio was officially opened to traffic at the interchange of State Route 664 (SR 664) and U.S. Route 33 (US 33) in the city of Logan in the southern part of the Buckeye State. This interchange has long been regarded as an important gateway to both Logan’s... Continue Reading →
November 25, 1999 The Süd Autobahn (designated as A2) in the Republic of Austria was officially completed. This motorway runs south from the outskirts of the capital city of Vienna to the market town of Arnoldstein along Austria’s border with Italy. (“Süd Autobahn” means “South Motorway” in German.) Construction on this controlled-access highway began in... Continue Reading →
October 30, 2007 The M1 motorway made its debut in northwestern Pakistan. This east-west highway was officially inaugurated by Syed Pervez Musharraf, the president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. The 96-mile (155-kilometer) M1 motorway connects the city of Peshawar (capital of the province of Khyber Pakhtunkwa) with the metropolitan area encompassing the cities of... Continue Reading →
From the first decade of the 20th century to 1936, Mexican American businesswoman María G. “Chata” Sada operated an establishment for weary travelers in a remote area of west Texas that has been part of Big Bend National Park since 1944. The establishment became widely known as “Chata’s Place,” and it was basically a combined... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 