Robert Melville Smith

Robert Melville Smith (14 October 1887 – 16 November 1950) was a civil engineer, who, as deputy minister of the Ontario Department of Highways (now the Ministry of Transportation) between 1928 and 1943, designed and constructed the Queen Elizabeth Way, the first divided intercity highway in North America.

Biography Smith was born at Kingston, Ontario, on 14 October 1887, Smith modified the design for Ontario roads. When it opened at the end of 1937, it was the first intercity divided highway in North America, preceding the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the first U.S. intercity divided highway, by one year.

Smith was also a consultant and contractor on projects such as the Grand River Conservation Commission and the Alaska Highway, through his company R. Melville Smith Co. Ltd, and the Canada Culvert Co. Ltd, Toronto, of which he was president. and died at his home in Toronto on 16 November 1950. who died in 1916, and secondly in 1919 to Margueretta Lucy, with whom he had two children.