AASHTO subcommittee presents achievement award to Reese

Longtime ITD engineer and hydrologist Lotwick Reese recently received the Region 4 Design Award at the annual American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) meeting in St. Louis.

The annual award is given for outstanding achievement in design by a member of AASHTO’s subcommittee on design or one of its technical committees, explains ITD Design Engineer Nestor Fernandez.

Fernandez accepted the award on Reese’s behalf in Missouri and formally presented it to the ITD hydrologist at a recent Idaho Transportation Board meeting in Boise. Reese also was recognized last fall for achieving 45 years of service with the department.

Reese was chosen to represent the northwestern states on an AASHTO technical subcommittee in hydrology and hydraulics in 1996. His activity on the committee has had international impact with the formulation of hydrologic and hydraulic design policy and guidelines, including the publication of the AASHTO “Model Drainage Manual” and “Highway Drainage Guidelines.” He has been an author of many other publications and has been invited to speak at many conferences.

A decade later (2007) he received the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement Award for his contribution to restoration of the historic Henry’s Lake fish passages in eastern Idaho. The project included replacement of old arched pipe culverts with clear-span bridges and a new free-flowing channel with natural meanders, pools and riffles.

The innovative design created a “fish-friendly” environment for the revered Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout to migrate from Henry’s Lake, up Targhee and Howard creeks to their natural spawning habitat.

Reese began his career with the Idaho Department of Highways (ITD predecessor) one month before he graduated from high school in 1956 and worked at the Montpelier Residency on the survey crew.

In 1963, Reese decided to pursue an engineering degree from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. He graduated in the spring of 1969 with a five-year bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with honors in the hydraulics program.

Upon graduation, Reese accepted a job offer from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) as a project engineer and worked in a number of areas, including California, Kansas, Oregon and Washington D.C.

He became a licensed professional engineer (PE) and land surveyor (LS) in Idaho and a PE in Utah.

Following a desire to return home, Reese accepted a position as a Bridge Design Engineer with ITD and later was requested to lead a task force in writing an Environmental Action Plan (EAP) and establish the first Environmental Section at ITD. In 1974, He became ITD’s first state hydraulics engineer, a position he held for five years.

Reese left the department again to work for an engineering consulting firm in Logan, Utah, where he served as the headquarters office manager and as the city engineer for the cities of Tremonton and Providence, Utah, and the county engineer for Rich County, Utah.

In the spring of 1980, Lotwick returned to Idaho to work for the Idaho Department of Water Resources as the engineering section supervisor, the state flood plain coordinator, and later as the groundwater protection supervisor.

In the spring of 1992, Reese returned to ITD to work in the local roads section. In November 1994, he was offered the position as the Department’s state hydraulics engineer for a second time. Shortly afterward, he was nominated by the department to serve as chairman of the bridge scour committee, which continues to meet on a regular basis.

Published 6-24-2011