Bernardo Quintana Arrioja

Quintana has not only received various honors, he has had one named after him. Presea "Ing. Bernardo Quintana Arrioja" 2010, which has as object the reward and to recognize publicly the pupils which for his student path and personal merits stood out for the following qualities: leadership, patriotism, service, value and academic excellence.

After his death in 1984, he received a number of honors in his memory.

Bernardo Quintana, died on 12 August 1984 his remains were moved to the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres. In 2005, the government of Vicente Fox issued a decree to allow the inclusion of Bernardo Quinta Arrioja into Rotonda of the Illustrious Persons. The cemetery contains those persons who have made important contributions to Mexico. Prominent figures such as David Alfaro Siqueiros, Alfonso Reyes, Francisco Gonzalez Bocanegra, among other. Bernardo Quintana is the only businessman who has been given this honor.

That was the start of construction of the subway in Mexico City by ICA and made the first trip occurred 4 September 1969 between the stations that are Insurgentes and Zaragosa. Now the subway has 11 lines and 164 stations and is the cheapest subway in the world. It has been also recognized for its cleanliness and is the first subway to start working with colors and icons for each station.

During his lifetime, Bernardo Quintana Arrioja received numerous awards and honors. In 1964 he was named "The Businessman in 1964," by Sales and Marketing Executive International. In 1968, the government of France declared him "Gentleman of the Legion Honor." In 1970, the Autonoma Universidad of Guadalajara gave him the title of "Honorary Doctorate." Six years later, Bernardo Quintana obtained the National Prize of Engineering. In 1980, the International Road Federation named him "Man of the Year." The government of Sweden named him "Polar Star," and he was given the "Order of the Commander," from the British Government.

It was built in 1962 to host the World Cup in 1970. This work took over four years for ICA company. The approximate weight of concrete used to build the stadium is 100,000 tons.

The subway in Mexico City, commonly called "Metro" is a large network of trains that travel through the city at a medium/high speed and transports nearly 3.9 million passengers daily. The idea of a subway system started with the students of the UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) in 1958. The initial project concerned the construction of a monorail that would transport students that lived far away from the university easily and for a low price. Bernardo Quintana realized a project to build a subway in Mexico City. First his draft was submitted to various authorities, he wouldn't get any support. The government wouldn't help because it was a very expensive project. A project proposal was submitted in 1958 to Ernesto P. Uruchurtu, Regent of Mexico City from 1952 to 1966, who rejected it because of its cost. In addition, on 28 July 1957, an earthquake of 7 degrees on the Richter scale damaged several buildings of downtown, which caused the mistrust of the authorities to build big projects like this. Quintana resubmitted its project in the presidency of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, President of Mexico from 1964 to 1970. Then, with economic help from the French government. In 1967 the Mexican government announced the acceptance about new project of transportation. Two months later, was performed the opening ceremony of the works at the intersection of Avenida Chapultepec and Avenida Bucareli. Bernardo's company started the construction of the subway system that would travel all over the city.

In 1947, he founded Ingenieros Civiles Asociados (ICA) ("Associated Civil Engineers"), an engineering firm for high technology projects that grew to be a "massive construction multinational", building much of the infrastructure of modern Mexico. These projects included the Mexico City Metro, the 100-km tunnel to drain the sewage from Mexico City, Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, stadiums such as Estadio Azteca, Palacio de los Deportes, Foro Sol, and other sport stadiums such as Hipódromo de las Américas, C.U Stadium and the Olympic Pool. Some of the Airports ICA constructed are the Mexico City Airport, the General Juan N. Álvarez International Airport in Acapulco and the Cancún International Airport. Malls he constructed are: Perisur, Plaza Satélite, Bosques de las Lomas. Other contributions include highways such as: Mexico City-Acapulco, Mexico City-Veracruz, Cuernavaca – Acapulco and the modernization of the highway from Mexico City to Querétaro. In Mexico City constructed Periferico road among others. Hospitals: Centro Medico La Raza, Hospital de Pemex and Centro Medico Nacional ABC also known as Hospital Ingles. Energy-related projects include the Thermoelectric Head offices in Laguna Verde. He remained as head of ICA until his death in 1984 and is buried in the Rotunda of Illustrious Persons in Mexico City.

Quintana founded the Ingenieros Civiles Asociados or ICA in 1947 which has managed engineering and construction works in 21 countries. In 1970, ICA became international and started building in Central and South America. By 1976, the ICA Group had more than 2 000 shareholders and 70 000 employees, both in Mexico and abroad. In 1991 Bernardo Quintana as the executive director of ICA, helped and completed the acquisition of Cementos Tolteca which was from the British company Blue Circle. ICA has worked in several countries in Latin America since the seventies, and in 1988, this company entered the U.S. market. Recently, it began work in Europe and Asia.

In 1938, at age 18, he began his studies at the National School of Engineers in UNAM and completed in 1942. The following year he published his professional thesis. He married Martha Rosa Isaac Ahumada when he was 21. Their eldest child, Bernardo, is the current director firm his father founded. Other children are: Marta, Maria Isabel, Claudia, Cecilia and Luis. In this way he was ready to proceed to the qualification. In 1943 Bernardo Quintana decided to launch another career, now studying architecture to complete the engineering. He supported various academic, cultural and sports activities in this university, as the Symphony Orchestra of the Palace the Mineria, the Pumas football club and built schools of Engineering, Architecture, Commerce, Veterinary Medicine, Dentistry and philosophy, as well as laboratories Chemical Engineering and Sciences Tower.

Bernardo Quintana Arrioja (29 October 1919, in Mexico City – 12 August 1984) was a Mexican civil engineer who contributed to his country's infrastructure during the second part of the twentieth century. Bernardo Quintana studied civil engineering at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and made important contributions to engineering by developing, adopting and spreading innovative technologies in the construction of large civil projects. He contributed a generation infrastructure projects in a number of areas of Mexico.