THE family of the man who oversaw the development of Britain’s motorway network has described him as a brilliant engineer whose legacy was ‘Spaghetti Junction.’

Abersychan-born Professor Ronald Jarman Bridle, who lived at Kemeys Commander, near Usk, suffered with Parkinson’s Disease and died after a long illness at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny on September 2.

Paying tribute to Professor Bridle, his son-in-law Ian Lockwood said of the former rugby player, who stood at six foot three inches tall: “He had a very powerful personality and could dominate a room.”

“But he loved a joke and was very friendly.”

“He was a brilliant engineer whose speciality was in bridges. He started his career building roads in Ghana but his legacy was ‘Spaghetti Junction’.”

Professor Bridle was Britain’s Chief Highway Engineer between 1975 and 1980 and his role involved the planning and construction of new motorways and co-ordinating research into highway and traffic policies.

He went to West Monmouthshire School where he was a top rugby player and was capped for Welsh Schoolboys against England and played regularly in the Newport first team by the age of 19.

He studied civil engineering at Bristol University but continued his rugby career with Bristol and the RAF. After graduating in 1953 he was offered a big money contract to play rugby league with St Helens but instead chose to further his career and moved to Ghana as a road engineer. It was invaluable experience as he supervised the construction of part of that country’s fledgling road network.

After returning to the UK he rose rapidly up the ranks, becoming Director of the Midlands Road Construction Unit. One of his biggest achievements was directing the construction of ‘Spaghetti Junction’.

He was also heavily involved in the technical development of pioneering bridge designs, most notably the Standard Concrete Beam. In 1993 he won the Institution of Highways and Transportation’s top award, for professional distinction.

After a period as director of Britain’s Transport and Road Research Laboratory, the grandfather-of-four retired in 1986 to Kemeys Commander although he continued to publish authoritative papers.

He was made honorary professor of Cardiff University, with whom he worked in developing engineering techniques such as “soil nailing” which prevents erosion and slippage by using air pressure to drive large nails into earth and rock.

His experience and technical skills proved invaluable when the Welsh Assembly proposed extracting gravel from pits along the Usk Valley instead of Swansea Bay and his research helped disprove the scheme’s claims of viability.

In later years he suffered from Parkinson’s Disease which badly affected his mobility but he retained a keen interest in engineering affairs. In the last week of his life he was outraged to discover the Wikipedia entry on soil nailing had ignored British advances and credited Karlsuhe university rather than Cardiff with making key breakthroughs.

He leaves a wife, Beryl (nee Doe), two daughters, Rachel and Shan, and four grandchildren. The funeral will take place at St Peter’s Church, Nantyderry, on Friday at 11am.