Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
The runway for a new airport in the Maldives, a country situated in the Indian Ocean, was completed four years after construction on the paved strip had begun. The conclusion of work on the runway marked an important step in building the airport on the Maldivan island of Kaadedhdhoo, with the facility officially opening about... Continue Reading →
Francis Goold Morony Stoney, an engineer whose accomplishments and influence extended to transportation infrastructure across the globe, was born in County Tipperary in Ireland. Early on in his career, he worked on building railways in Ireland. Ultimately, however, Stoney’s engineering efforts assumed international proportions. Starting in 1865, for example, he spent time in Peru on... Continue Reading →
In Western Australia, a new main road between the town of Muchea (on the northern outskirts of the Perth metropolitan area) and the port city of Geraldton was officially opened. Western Australia’s Transport Minister Ray O’Connor was on hand for this dedication ceremony, which took place in the town of Eneabba. There were plans to... Continue Reading →
In Italy, a new light rail system opened in the city of Messina on the island of Sicily. The 4.8-mile-long Tranvia di Messina, which replaced a bus line, made its debut more than a half-century after the last tramway network serving one of Sicily’s largest cities had ceased operations. With a rolling stock of 15... Continue Reading →
In Indonesia, the main span of the Suramadu Bridge was connected successfully in a midnight ceremony. The bridge, which crosses the Madura Strait between the city of Surabaya on the island of Java and the town of Bangkalan on the island of Madura, had been built by the Indonesian construction companies PT Adhi Karya (Persero)... Continue Reading →
In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman to fly into outer space. (Two female USSR cosmonauts, Valentina Tereshkova and Svetlana Savitskaya, had already traveled into orbit.) Ride, who was 32 at the time of her first space flight, also established a still-intact record as the youngest U.S. astronaut to make such a journey.... Continue Reading →
In the Philippines, Cape Bojeador Lighthouse on the island of Luzon was first lit. At the time, the Philippines was under Spanish rule. The lighthouse was constructed on Vigia de Nagpartian Hill at Cape Bojeador in the town of Burgos, and it overlooks the South China Sea. Cape Bojeador Lighthouse marks Luzon’s northwestern-most point. The... Continue Reading →
The American Red Cross (ARC) Motor Corps was an all-women’s service established during World War I to provide transportation support on the home front for the U.S. military as well as the ARC. The women who served as volunteers for the ARC Motor Corps wore uniforms (initially khaki, then Oxford grey) and were expected to... Continue Reading →
Boliviana de AviaciĂłn (BoA), which serves as the national airline of Bolivia and is entirely owned by the South American country’s government, formally began operations with its first commercial flight. This flight was made by a Boeing 737 airliner traveling between the cities of La Paz (the capital) and Cochabamba. Evo Morales, Bolivia’s president since... Continue Reading →
In 1983, Carmen E. Turner made history as the first African-American woman to lead a major transit agency when she became general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Her appointment to this position also reflected the overall strides being made by women at the time when it came to assuming key leadership... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 