04-04-2007 City Engineer named Indiana’s ‘Engineer of the Year’

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engineers and consulting engineers in the state by this professional association speaks well of the caliber of South Bend city staff." The award followed an earlier honor from a regional chapter of the American Society of Engineers. A native of St. Louis, Littrell grew up in Louisiana, Mo.,just upstream from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Lock& Dam 24 at a home that had views of two truss bridges over the Mississippi. He moved to Indiana to study at the University of Notre Dame, where he received bachelor's and master's degrees in civil engineering. He worked at Shilts, Graves & Associates in South Bend, becoming its president in 1974. During his tenure, the company grew from two employees to 20 and saw major shifts in the concrete and asphalt-paving industries. Littrell recounts with satisfaction the white Portland Cement that he proportioned to become part of the concrete in the Great Hall at Century Center. He also points with pride to the durability of thousands of projects in which he had a hand—from single-family homes to the First Source Center, from grain silos to I/N Tek-UN Kote. Littrell joined the City of South Bend in 1990 as director of engineering. He became city engineer in 1997. As city engineer, Littrell is responsible at any given time for a volume of nearly $40 million worth of civic projects in their planning, design or construction phase. In his time with the city, Littrell's hand has been a part of such major renovations as the Morris Performing Arts Center, the Palais Royale and the South Bend Police headquarters as well as new construction projects, such as the Central Fire Station and the College Football Hall of Fame. Littrell also has been involved in work that is less visible. He developed and led a program for the city to share the cost of$7.3 million of curb and sidewalk replacements with 3,350 homeowners. He participates in planning for the city's efforts to reduce combined storm/sanitary sewer overflow, and now directs implementation of a stormwater management plan. He also has participated in physical changes that lead to South Bend's new growth, whether in the Blackthorn Development Area and Portage Prairie or through the conversion of the former Studebaker manufacturing corridor into a new industrial center. Littrell is a registered professional engineer in Indiana and Michigan. In addition to being an ASCE fellow, he is a member of the International Municipal Signal Association and the Indiana Association of City Engineers. He is treasurer of the Indiana chapter of the American Public Works Association, Chi Epsilon, and a charter member of the American Concrete Institute's Indiana chapter. - 30 -