Francis Turner, 90; Chief Architect of America’s Highways
Francis Turner, advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and chief architect of the interstate highway system, died Saturday in Washington of cancer. He was 90.
Turner, a highway engineer in Arkansas who did road surveys later used for the system of superhighways, started working for the federal Bureau of Roads in 1929. In World War II, he worked as an engineer in Alaska to help build the Alaska Highway.
Eisenhower named Turner executive secretary of the highway advisory committee in 1954, which led to recommendations for a system of interstate and defense-oriented highways that were financed by state and federal governments.
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