Sustaining a Qualified Transportation Workforce
Formed in 2000 with the goal of improving training opportunities for
transportation workers, the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council
(TCCC) is marking its second anniversary with such undertakings as the
launching of a new State pooled-fund effort to support training development.
The Council is also looking ahead to what still needs to be done to
meet training needs for construction teams, highway agencies, and industry.
“A good start has been made but now it’s a matter of keeping
the momentum going and moving forward,” says Jim Sorenson of the
Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).
When the TCCC was formed, it brought together five regional training
and certification groups comprised of State highway agency training
officers and materials and construction engineers. Members also include
FHWA and its National Highway Institute (NHI), three American Association
of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) subcommittees,
and industry associations. The TCCC partnership is aimed at reducing
redundancy in the development of training materials and programs and
cutting both time and costs, as well as producing and national core
training materials. With highway agencies across the country facing
serious shortages of trained and experienced personnel, these are vital
goals. New state-of-the-art pavement preservation and construction technologies
are also requiring that highway workers gain additional skills and knowledge,
making training more important than ever. “Cast-in-place box girder
bridge construction and inspection, for example, should generally be
the same the same nationally. Only minor differences in local or project
specific specifications need exist,” says Sorenson.
The 5-year pooled-fund study is designed to facilitate national management
of the TCCC and to develop curriculum and core training materials. As
of August 26, 2002, $290,000 had been pledged toward the fund’s
annual goal of $1 million. "We are working on obtaining the fund
obligations so we can put this money to work as soon as possible,”
says Sorenson.
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The 5-year pooled-fund study is designed to facilitate national
management of the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council
and to develop curriculum and core training materials.
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Work on some national core training materials is already underway,
including a national Geotechnical Inspector Qualification Program. The
goal of this program is to improve inspector qualifications and ensure
uniformity of inspection work. “Basic course requirements are that
it must be taught for the novice inspector and it must cover the FHWA
guide specification. It also covers the construction process and equipment,
coordination, and communication,” says Peter Osborn of FHWA. The
program will ultimately be administered through the five regional training
and certification groups and will also likely be offered through NHI.
The first course of the program, Deep Foundation Inspection, is now
under final development. The course will include modules on drilled
shafts and driven piles. These modules are expected to be ready this
fall. Next on the list for development is a Subsurface Investigation
course.
The TCCC has also launched a Web site (www.nhi.fhwa.dot.gov/tccc).
The site contains links to all of the regional training and certification
groups and information on training courses. A database of training courses
is available that allows users to search for courses nationally, regionally,
and by State.
A major TCCC initiative for 2003 is developing a comprehensive
curriculum for training construction personnel that all highway agencies
could use. The curriculum will be divided into the areas of construction;
materials; maintenance; employee development; and safety features, work
zones, and worker safety. Working groups of TCCC members and other State
representatives have been set up to develop each curricula track. This
work will be reported on at the next TCCC meeting in December 2002.
The regional training and certification groups are also
continuing their work. The Western Alliance for Quality Transportation
Construction (WAQTC), for example, offers training modules for asphalt,
concrete, soils, and embankments, while bridge inspection and Superpave
modules are under development. Modules include instructors’ guides,
exams, PowerPoint presentations, and video clips. States can customize
them to fit their own local needs.
The Southeast Task Force for Technician Training and
Qualification (SETFTTQ) has established training and certification programs
that are working well, with States routinely sharing information with
each other. Training materials are posted on its Web site (www11.myflorida.
com/statematerialsoffice/setaskforce) and collected in a library at
FHWA’s Southern Resource Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
The New England Transportation Technician Certification
Program (NETTCP) reports that it has issued 2,900 certifications since
1996. Courses include Hot-Mix Asphalt (HMA) Paving Inspector, HMA Plant
Inspection, Soils and Aggregate, Concrete Technician, and Concrete Field
Inspector. A new Quality Assurance Technologist course will be available
by winter 2003. In the Midwest, the North Central Multi-Regional Training
and Certification Program (M-TRAC) offers training modules on Aggregate
Test Methods, Bituminous Test Methods, and Soil Sampling and Testing
to its 14 member States.
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| A major TCCC initiative is to develop a comprehensive curriculum
for training construction personnel that all highway agencies could
use. |
The Mid-Atlantic Region Technician Certification Program
(MARTCP) has courses available in Pavement Markings and HMA Plant and
Field Technician. An Aggregate Technician course will make its debut
soon. All of MARTCP’s manuals are generic in nature so that States
can customize them to suit their needs. The demand for training is high:
Woody Hood of the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) notes
that, “We use a large percentage of consultants on our State projects
and due to a large turnover in their personnel, our consultants are
continuously looking to us to provide that training/certification. We
are seeing people on our projects who have already gone through the
training/certification and who are now training those who have not had
a chance to go through the program.”
For more information on the TCCC or its pooled-fund study,
contact Howe Crockett at FHWA, 360-619-7750 (fax: 360-619-7846; email:
howe.crockett@fhwa.dot.gov),
or Jim Sorenson at FHWA, 202-366-1333 (fax: 202-366-9981; email: james.sorenson@fhwa.dot.gov).
For more information on the Geotechnical Inspector course, contact Peter
Osborn at FHWA, 401-528-4550 (email: peter.osborn@fhwa.dot.gov).
For contact information on the regional training and certification groups,
see sidebar.
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Mid-Atlantic Region Technician Certification
Program
Woody Hood, Maryland SHA 410-321-4100 (whood@sha.state.md.us)
New England Transportation Technician Certification
Program
Chris Bowker, NETTCP 781-837-2680 (nettcp@netway.com)
North Central Multi-Regional Training and Certification
Program
Chris Anderson, Iowa DOT 515-239-1819 (christie.anderson@dot.state.ia.us)
Southeast Task Force for Technician Training
and Qualification
Jack Cowsert, North Carolina DOT 919-733-7088 (jcowsert@dot.state.nc.us)
Western Alliance for Quality Transportation
Construction
Garth Newman, Idaho DOT 208-334-8039 (gnewman@itd.state.id.us)
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Articles in this issue:
After 9/11:Making Transportation Security a Way of Life
New Initiatives Launched To Increase Structure Security
Sustaining a Qualified Transportation Workforce
FHWA Teams Up To Ensure National Defense Mobility
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