Cranston “Chan” R. Rogers, a distinguished member with more than six decades of experience designing major transportation projects such as the largest section of Boston’s “Big Dig” tunnel, has died. The U.S. Army veteran of World War II was 99.
Rogers, P.E., Dist.M.ASCE, also engineered the merger of the Boston Society of Civil Engineers with ASCE in 1974 and also made significant contributions to the Society as director, vice president, and chair of five national committees.
Rogers designed some incredibly challenging, high-profile transportation projects. Many of his more than 15 major bridge, tunnel, rail transit, and interstate highway works featured unusual engineering. Long before the U.S. Interstate Highway System was complete, he raised awareness of the nation’s bridge crisis as it existed then.
He came out of retirement at 80 after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in 2005 and went to aid in disposal of the tremendous amount of debris. His achievements merited him election as a distinguished member in 2008.
Entry to the Army Specialized Training Program gave Rogers a background in engineering before he left for Europe with the 103rd Division, where his leadership helped him rise to sergeant. In April 1945, Rogers and his unit liberated the Dachau concentration camp. He earned a Purple Heart and after the war served in the Army Reserve until 1978, where he rose to the rank of colonel and had oversight of Engineer Reserve units.
Like many in his family, Rogers attended The Citadel in South Carolina, where he earned his degree in civil engineering. From there he went to Boston, where he managed to balance both earning a master’s degree in civil engineering from MIT with his first civil engineering endeavor – creating the six-lane elevated Central Artery (I-93).
Rogers was involved in many innovative projects, including planning the first long-distance overland movement of a nuclear reactor to its plant site and design of the Dewey Square Tunnel, which literally paved the path for Boston to be able to accommodate the Big Dig. He also managed the largest, most complex tunnel-jacking project in the world, the only section of the national highway system to be put underground, and the world’s widest vehicular tunnel at the time.
After Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, he came out of retirement at 80 and went to New Orleans to aid in disposal of the tremendous amount of debris. Rogers spent many of his "retirement" years on the lecture circuit, speaking about his experiences in World War II and New Orleans.
He received, among others, ASCE’s 2003 Pankow Award and the 2004 NOVA Award. Many honors came from the international community, but it was during his service to the Boston Community that he met his future wife, Francine, to whom he was married for over 50 years.
Rogers also mentored students on the vital responsibilities of the civil engineer. The Boston Globe of September 18, 2006, said of him, “He shaped Boston for half a century.”
