Theodor Borchgrevink (16 February 1923 – 2 December 2015) was a Norwegian engineer of transport and highways. He worked in the United States during the advent of the Interstate Highway System, and returned to Norway in 1963 where he advanced to the upper echelon of the

Norwegian Directorate of Public Roads The Norwegian Public Roads Administration ( no, Statens vegvesen) is a Norwegian government agency responsible for national and county public roads in Norway. This includes planning, construction and operation of the national and county road net ...

Early life and career

He was born in Brooklyn, New York, but grew up in Stabekk. He enrolled at the

Norwegian Institute of Technology The Norwegian Institute of Technology (Norwegian: ''Norges tekniske høgskole'', NTH) was a science institute in Trondheim, Norway. It was established in 1910, and existed as an independent technical university for 58 years, after which it was m ...

in 1941, but the studies were interrupted by World War II. Borchgrevink fled from occupied Norway to England via

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, and was enrolled in the Royal Norwegian Air Force-in-exile where he worked in Belgium and the Netherlands. In the last war phase he was a member of the Norwegian Independent Company 1. After the war he resumed his studies, and graduated from the construction department of the Institute of Technology in 1948. He then moved to the United States, where he worked with construction of the Interstate Highway System. He lived in Monroe, Connecticut, and was active in the local

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

Later career

In 1962 he applied for the position as director of the

, and although he was among the strong candidates, the job was given to

Karl Olsen Karl Olsen (27 December 1910 – 21 February 1999) was a Norwegian civil servant. Early life He was born in Farsund, and graduated as siv.ing. from the Norwegian Institute of Technology. Career From 1962 to 1980 he served as director of the ...

. Nonetheless, he returned to Norway. From 1963 he headed the office which administered the northern part of the

European route E6 European route E6 ( no, Europavei 6, sv, Europaväg 6, or simply E6) is the main north-south thoroughfare through Norway as well as the west coast of Sweden. It is long and runs from the southern tip of Sweden at Trelleborg, into Norway and t ...

in Oslo, a major project at the time. In 1967 he became head of the road department (''Vegavdelingen''), the third highest position in the Directorate of Public Roads. The name was changed to the administration department in 1971, and it absorbed the former planning department from 1972. Borchgrevink stepped down in 1984. From 1984 to 1992 he worked with road projects for the Directorate of Public Roads and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and Madagascar. He was married, and had four children. He resided at Stabekk for large parts of his life. He died in December 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borchgrevink, Theodor 1923 births 2015 deaths People from Bærum Norwegian expatriates in the United States Norwegian Institute of Technology alumni Norwegian resistance members Norwegian Special Operations Executive personnel Norwegian engineers Directorate of Public Roads people People from Monroe, Connecticut