Mr. Noble was born in 1896 in Brushnell, Florida. For the first four years of his varied career he progressed from rodman to resident engineer in agencies such as the United States Government, the Alabama Highway Department, and was on assignment in Florida, North Carolina, and Alabama. From 1921 to 1923 after a stint in World War I with the US Navy he was with the Kentucky State Highway Department on heavy mountain highway construction. From 1923 to 1925 he was with the New Jersey State Highway Department doing survey and planning in urban areas including some early expressway layout and design. From 1925 to 1938 he was an engineer with the Port of New York Authority on major bridges such as the George Washington Bridge, Goethals Bridge, the Outerbridge Crossing, and the Bayonne Bridge as well as the Lincoln Tunnel.
In 1938 he joined the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission and handled special design and construction problems on the original 160 mile Turnpike. In 1941 he went with the Corps of Engineers to work on the Pentagon Building design and construction and the surrounding freeway system.
In 1942 to 1946 for three and one half years he was in the Civil Engineer Corps of the Navy (Sea Bees) and commanded a Naval Construction Battalion and the 6th Naval Construction Regiment (7 Battalions) in Alaska and the Aleutians. He also did engineering reconnaissance behind Japanese lines in China and was a Deputy Director of the Advance Base Department of the Bureau of Yards and Docks.
After the war from 1946 to 1949 he was State Highway Engineer with the New Jersey State Highway Department and from 1949 to 1957 was Chief Engineer with the New Jersey Turnpike Authority which from start to finish cost $443 million for the design and construction. From 1957 to 1959 he was Director of the Ohio Department of Highways. During his two year tenure $671.7 million of construction contracts were awarded.
Mr. Noble has served many times as a consulting engineer for special assignments both at home and abroad and had won many honors. Since 1937 many of his papers have been professional recognized; he has been active in the American Road Builders Association, the American Association of Highway Officials, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the Eno Foundation, and Highway Research Board.