Randolph Collier

{{short description|American politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Randolph Collier

|image = Randolph Collier, 1963.jpg

|state_senate = California

|term_start = January 2, 1939

|term_end = November 30, 1976

|predecessor = Henry M. McGuinness

|successor = Ray E. Johnson

|constituency = 2nd district {{small|(1939–1967)}}
1st district {{small|(1967–1976)}}

|birth_date = {{birth date|1902|07|26}}

|birth_place = Etna, California, U.S.

|death_date = {{death date and age|1983|08|02|1902|07|26}}

|death_place = Sacramento, California, U.S.

|restingplace =

|party = Democratic {{small|(1959–1983)}}
Republican {{small|(before 1959)}}

|spouse = {{marriage|Aida|1945|1970|end=div}}
Barbara Ferris Hamoui

|children = 7

|occupation =

|alma_mater = University of California, Berkeley

}}

Randolph Collier (July 26, 1902 – August 2, 1983) was a member of the California State Senate. He was Senator from California's 2nd senatorial district from 1939 to 1967, and from the First District from 1967 to 1976.{{cite web|title= Join California - Randolph Collier|url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/2267|website=joincalifornia.com}} Initially a member of the Republican Party, he moved to the Democratic Party in 1959.California Blue Book, 1963[https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/03/obituaries/randolph-collier-father-of-coast-freeways.html New York Times - Obituary of Randolph Collier]

Collier served as chairman of the California Senate Transportation Committee and was the sponsor and co-author of the Collier–Burns Highway Act of 1947, which laid the groundwork for the California Freeway and Expressway System. He was chairman of the Senate Interim Committee on Highways, Streets and Bridges. Collier was an opponent of rapid transit.[http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf267n99qg/ Inventory of the Randolph Collier Papers, bulk 1945-1955] A rest stop in Siskiyou County, where he lived nearly all of his life, is named after him,[http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/maint/ra/ra29.htm California Rest Stops] as is a tunnel on the Redwood Highway, U.S. Route 199.

In 1976, Collier was defeated for re-election by former state Assemblyman Ray E. Johnson and moved to Sacramento, where he spent the remainder of his life until dying of chronic pulmonary obstruction at the age of 81.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/08/03/obituaries/randolph-collier-father-of-coast-freeways.html|title = Randolph Collier, 'Father' of Coast Freeways|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 3 August 1983|last1 = Turner|first1 = Wallace}}