The Texas Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) Center is pleased to announce that an updated version of the Texas Road Scholar Program was approved by the CJCAT County Commissioners Education Committee at its February meeting. The Texas Road Scholar Program was developed in cooperation with the Texas LTAP Advisory Committee.
The program includes a series of individual technical courses that are offered at no charge to county commissioners, county/city engineers, road administrators, and other county/city road agency personnel.
The objectives of the Texas Road Scholar Program are to encourage continuing education and training of city and county personnel in transportation and road maintenance issues, and to recognize those who complete and maintain a prescribed curriculum.
The program will be of value in several ways:
· Road agency personnel completing the required series of courses will receive a training certificate for each course they complete. They will also receive a Texas Road Scholar certificate that recognizes that they have completed a curriculum of training that may help them advance in their careers.
· County commissioners taking one of the courses will receive credit for the hours in that course that apply toward the continuing education credits he/she is required to attain each year.
· In a similar fashion, engineers will receive CEU credits, which for many of the courses will translate into the PDH hours they are required to have each year to maintain their P.E. license.
Curriculum
Completion of the Texas Road Scholar Program requires 60 classroom hours, including 40 hours of core (required) classes and 20 hours of elective classes. Future classes developed by the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) may be added to the elective class list. Accumulated hours have a “shelf life” of six years. In other words, no credit can be claimed for classes taken more than six years ago.
Core (Required) Classes:
· Work Zone Traffic Control (16 hours)
· Transportation Safety & Tort Liability (8 hours)
· Road Maintenance (8 hours)
· Bridge Maintenance (8 Hours)
Elective Classes:
· Work Zone Traffic Control Refresher (6 hours)
· Using Motor Graders to Maintain Roads (8 hours)
· Culvert Operations (4 hours)
· Flaggers in Work Zones (4 hours)
· Safe Practices for Traffic Incident Responders (8 hours)
· City/County MUTCD Update (4 hours)
· Installation & Maintenance of Traffic Signs (12 hours)
· Installation & Maintenance of Pavement Markings (4 hours)
· Preventive Maintenance on Asphalt Roads (8 hours)
· Leadership and Supervision (8 hours)
Texas Road Scholar Certificate
Each participant is required to keep track of his/her own classroom hours. Participants must submit an application form and furnish copies of course completion certificates (or dates and locations of classes taken) when applying for the Texas Road Scholar certificate.
Texas Road Scholar Application Forms can be obtained by calling 800-723-3811 or 979-862-3735. Applications should be submitted to:
TEEX-ITSI
301 Tarrow Drive
College Station, Texas 77840-7896
TEEX will confirm attendance through its master transcript records and issue the certificate to the participant. Names of all recipients will be regularly published in Lone Star Roads.
After completion of the Texas Road Scholar Program, a participant must complete eight hours of training from the Core Class list or the Elective Class list every two years to maintain the Texas Road Scholar designation.
Class Schedule
TEEX routinely schedules six of the program courses. Interested students should visit the TEEX Web site, www.teex.org, and conduct a search using the course name. The six routinely scheduled courses include:
1. Work Zone Traffic Control
2. Work Zone Traffic Control Refresher
3. Flaggers in Work Zones
4. Safe Practices for Traffic Incident Responders
5. Installation and Maintenance of Signs
6. Installation and Maintenance of Pavement Markings.
The other courses in the Texas Road Scholar Program are scheduled on demand by calling 979-862-3735 or 800-723-3811. H – By Howard McCann, P.E.McCann is director of the Texas LTAP Center, which is administered TEEX. This article was originally published in TEEXLone Star Roads, 2-10 issue. Reprinted with permission. For more on TEEX, go to www.teex.org.itsi.