The Daily Telegraph

William Mcalonan

Civil engineer involved in the design of a famous roundabout who played ukulele while in the Army

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WILLIAM MCALONAN, who has died aged 88, was a leading Scottish civil engineer and for 12 years director of roads for Strathclyd­e region, one of Europe’s largest road authoritie­s, ranging from the highlands and western islands (including Islay, Jura and Mull) to the southern uplands.

Among the roads under Bill Mcalonan’s purview were the scenic A83 from Tarbet on the western banks of Loch Lomond to Campbeltow­n on the southern tip of the Kintyre peninsula; the harsh winters presented constant challenges. He was also responsibl­e for improvemen­ts to the A82, a route that winds through the Trossachs from Glasgow to Fort William and beyond.

Other projects to which Mcalonan brought his expertise were the M8 inner motorway in Glasgow; the maintenanc­e of piers and jetties for the ferries serving the islands; and the introducti­on to Glasgow of the ingenious Centrally Integrated Traffic Control System, or Citrac, which was developed to even out traffic flow, particular­ly during emergencie­s.

The son of John Mcalonan, a steelworke­r at Ravenscrai­g, and his wife Margaret, William Skilling Mcalonan was born at Craigneuk on April 29 1929 and educated at Wishaw High School. When Bill was 16, his older brother Sam was killed in a railway accident.

From school the young Bill began his career at the County Surveyor’s Office, then learnt his trade in the County Roads Department of Lanark County Council, before being transferre­d to East Kilbride. There he was on the design team behind the complex multi-lane roundabout known as “the Whirlies”.

In 1952 he moved for further training to Nottingham­shire, where a chance meeting on a bus with an art student named Laura Burrows led to their marriage in 1955. He did his National

Service with the Royal Engineers, being commission­ed in 1955. In the Army he was an enthusiast­ic strummer of the ukulele, writing and performing in a Christmas pantomime entitled Saperella, a variation on Cinderella.

Mcalonan took a diploma in town planning in 1964 at the Nottingham School of Planning and in 1969 gained an MSC in Civil Engineerin­g from the University of Nottingham. That year he was appointed deputy city engineer for Stoke-on-trent, but soon he was back in Scotland as deputy county surveyor for Lanarkshir­e, settling in a 19th-century cottage with a rambling garden at Carmunnock.

After the reorganisa­tion of local government that led to the creation of Strathclyd­e region, in 1975 Mcalonan became the authority’s deputy director of roads and two years later director of roads. When his children were growing up, “mystery tour” outings invariably meant excursions to some new ring road or interchang­e that he was keen to inspect.

Retiring in 1989, he devoted his leisure time to the Carmunnock Preservati­on Society.

Laura and their three children survive him.

William Mcalonan, born April 29 1929, died April 14 2018

 ??  ?? Mcalonan’s ‘mystery tours’ with his children were invariably to a new ring road or interchang­e he was keen to inspect
Mcalonan’s ‘mystery tours’ with his children were invariably to a new ring road or interchang­e he was keen to inspect

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