2023-06-30
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Mardi Gras? Fats Domino? Gris-gris? The Rambler couldn't care less. As far as The Rambler is concerned, the only point about New Orleans is its transportation history. So, anyone looking for a travel guide to the best bars in New Orleans-look elsewhere!
2023-06-30
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Dear Rambler, I came across the following letter and I'm wondering if it's true... The Rambler Responds: Although the Rambler is no expert on this matter, he has never let that stop him from having an opinion. And in this case, the opinion is that the letter is bogus. The Van Buren letter expressed sentiments that were expressed at the time by othe
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United States. Department of Transportation. Federal Highway Administration
2023-06-30
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Frederick W. Cron, an engineer with the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads from 1928 to 1969, was also a historian of highway design. While living in retirement in Colorado, he saw a letter in the Denver Post advocating a scenic design for Interstate highways. Mr. Cron wrote the following letter that was published on November 25, 1973.
2023-06-30
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The Rambler is often asked how Hawaii can have Interstate highways when the roads clearly don't connect two States. The question is often followed by the observation that, just in case the Rambler hadn't noticed, Hawaii doesn't share a border with any other State and is, in fact, ____ miles away. (The blank indicates that people asking the question
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2023-06-30
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Ohio has been celebrating its Bicentennial all year. Many barns were painted with the Bicentennial logo. (See photographs below.) A Wagon Train left Martin's Ferry, Ohio, on June 20, and will cross Ohio on the National Trail. It arrived in Reynoldsburg, an adjoining city to Columbus, Ohio's capital and home of the FHWA Ohio Division, on July 4th at
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2023-06-30
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Many of our Nation's roadways were once dirt and mud paths until the early to mid–1800s. A modern movement at that time called for the building of wooden roads, a great improvement in transportation. These planks-boards-were laid over the roadway on log foundations in various lengths, but most were eight feet long. Built for wagons, the width of th
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2023-06-30
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In American, covered bridges were first built in the 1800s as a free alternative to merchant run ferries for travelers looking to cross rivers and creeks. These bridges have a rich history. All over America concrete and steel have replaced instead of repaired the structures that are so vital to our historical past. Down from 3,500 to approximately
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2023-06-30
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On February 13, 2003, Cheryl Cattledge, Civil Rights Specialist and member of the FHWA Black History Committee, sponsored a Luncheon Program entitled The ALCAN (Alaska-Canada) Highway, Built by World War II Black Regiments. The committee members who helped Ms. Cattledge organize the event are Ilze Abolins, Tashia Clemons, Rise' Stevens and Charles
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2023-06-30
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Canals have a long history of providing drinking water, irrigation, and opportunities for travel. In the United States, canal building began in the 1790s to connect the 16 States to western lands for commerce and families seeking to relocate further west. Packet boats, which provided transportation in the canals, have played an important role in Am
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2023-06-30
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Blaine, a small community in Belmont County eight miles from Wheeling, West Virginia, is home to Ohio's oldest sandstone bridge. The historic Blaine Hill "S" Bridge was built in 1828 as part of the National Road project, the first road funded by the federal government. Not only is it the oldest bridge at nearly 178 years, but the longest at 345 fee
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2023-06-30
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Ohio plays an important role in the 50th anniversary of our Nation’s Interstate. Harvey Firestone, founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, was born in Columbiana, Ohio, in 1868. In 1904 he joined Henry Ford to make rubber tires for the newly invented automobile. In 1919, Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower led that famous military con
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2023-06-30
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Route 66 was built in the early 1900s and linked hundreds of rural communities from Chicago to Kansas to Los Angeles. Route 66 was popular for transporting goods and for tourists taking cross-country road trips. By 1970, much of the original road had been replaced and its popularity declined.
2023-06-30
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a big supporter of toll superhighways, which he saw as a way to create jobs for the unemployed during the Depression. During World War II, he saw the concept as vital to having projects on the shelf ready for construction by returning veterans in the post-war period. Less well known is his pet idea: to build the
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2023-06-30
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In early colonial times, letter writers sent their correspondence by friends, merchants and Native Americans via foot or horseback. Most of this correspondence, however, was between the colonists and family members back home in England. In 1633, the first official notice of a postal service in the colonies appeared. Mail was originally carried on h
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2023-06-30
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A new kind of camping has been sweeping America for decades and becomes more and more popular each year. It is referred to as RVing (Recreational Vehicle-ing). Often fueled by married couples earning double incomes, these comfortable motor homes, exclusive travel trailers, convenient and compact cab-over campers, converted vans and pop-ups, and elo
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2023-06-30
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As you travel toward the historic city of Cumberland, Maryland on I-68 from either direction, you will see a mountain ahead in the distance that makes you question if the highway will go over it or around it. As you travel, you strain to see the roadway for your answer. Upon approach you will see that there is a cut in the mountain and you will hav
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2023-06-30
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South Dakota-named for the early inhabitants, the great Dakotah (later Dakota) Sioux Indians-has more than 83,000 miles of roadway and 5,900 bridges. In 1982, it became one of the first states to complete its Interstate System. This vast network of roads connects the east and west areas of the country to transport farm products. It also serves the
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2023-06-30
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Fortunately, we rarely hear of traffic accidents involving buses, trains, or other highway public transportation vehicles. However, we sometimes hear of snowstorms and other extreme weather conditions where a bus is involved in a multiple car pile-up with injuries and even fatalities, or a train that has derailed. Although the pioneers didn't have
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2023-06-30
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Colonel Ebenezer Zane, beginning with Zane's Trace, played a major role in the social and economic development of Ohio, placing it on the path to statehood.
2023-06-30
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In transportation, predictions are a common practice at the project level (such as loading over a 20-year design life, expected noise levels, and environmental and air quality impacts) and the theoretical level as experts try to figure out where transportation is headed. (Usually, it isn't.) In this feature, the Highway History page has given the R
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