I designed Gočár Ring Road as a prospective route, for forty years no repairs had been necessary
Josef Mach was born on June 22nd, 1924 in Valteřice in the Podkrkonoší region. Although populated solely by Czechs, the village had been annexed as part of the borderland on November 24th 1938, probably due to its strategic position. Josef studied at a grammar school in Jilemnice and later at a German grammar school in Vrchlabí. He passed his school leaving exams in 1943, when all his German schoolmates had already been sent to war. After the war he had to do an additional exam in Czech. After graduating from the grammar school he got a job in construction as there was a threat of him being ‚totally deployed‘. He had been working in Trutnov and was sent to a technical school in Dresden several times. After the war he went to Prague to study at the Czech Technical University. After 1948 his parents refused to join an agricultural coop (JZD). As a result, their sons had to do their compulsory military service at the Technical Auxiliary Battalion (PTP). However, Josef was exempted from military service on medical grounds. His uncle, Václav Mach, was accused of assaulting a Communist and sentenced to one year in the Jáchymov labour camps. As a civil engineer, Josef Mach was assigned to Stavoprojekt national enterprise branch in Turnov. There he took part in building a route leading through Vrchlabí to Špindlerův mlýn. Later, he designed a ring road in Hradec Králové, so-called Gočár Ring Road. After 1989 he was employed in the private sector. He took part in the renewal of the Czech Civil Engineer Union and also helped to create a professional board which he afterwards presided for several years. After retiring he has been living in Hradec Králové with his wife. He has been visiting Valteřice, the locality where he was born.