Francis Turner

Francis Turner was a worker for the U.S. government to whom the creation of the Interstate Highway System is attributed.

Background and education

Frank was born on December 28 1908, in Dallas, Texas, and spent his childhood in Texas. He graduated twice from Texas A&M, once in 1928, the second time in 1940. [Ravo, Nick, "Francis C. Turner,90, Dies; Shaped the Interstate System," The New York Times, October 6, 1999.]

Appointment

Turner was appointed by President Eisenhower to be the Executive Secretary of the Clay Commission President's Advisory Committee on the National Highway Program in 1954. He then worked as the deputy commissioner, chief engineer, and Federal Highway Administrator.

Achievement

As the British newspaper "The Independent" noted in Turner's 1999 obituary, Turner's resume can be read in the landscape: When the young area engineer began his career in Arkansas, "most American roads were dirt and gravel." As of 1999, America offered 42,000 miles of Interstate; these miles had been developed at a cost of $130 billion, much of that capital "personally superintended by Turner." [cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19991007/ai_n14281820
title=Obituary: Francis Turner |first=Rupert |last=Cornwell | |publisher=The Independent |date=1999-10-07 |accessdate=2008-03-21]

The magazine American Heritage noted that these paved roads "changed the country subtly as much as the transcontinental railroad did overtly". [Sited in Cornwell, "Francis Turner."]

Honors and Retirement

The Federal Highway Research Center, in McLean, Virginia, was named in Mr. Turner's honor. He died on October 6 1999, at the age 90, at a hospice in Greensboro, North Carolina. [Ravo, Nick, "Francis C. Turner,90, Dies; Shaped the Interstate System," The New York Times, October 6, 1999.]

References