Training and Certification of Highway Maintenance Workers (2015)

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Training and Certification of Highway Maintenance Workers NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 483 A Synthesis of Highway Practice

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD 2015 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE* OFFICERS Chair: Daniel Sperling, Professor of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy; Director, Institute of Transportation Studies, University of California, Davis Vice Chair: James M. Crites, Executive Vice President of Operations, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, TX Executive Director: Neil J. Pedersen, Transportation Research Board MEMBERS VICTORIA A. ARROYO, Executive Director, Georgetown Climate Center; Assistant Dean, Centers and Institutes; and Professor and Director, Environmental Law Program, Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC SCOTT E. BENNETT, Director, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, Little Rock DEBORAH H. BUTLER, Executive Vice President, Planning, and CIO, Norfolk Southern Corporation, Norfolk, VA JENNIFER COHAN, Secretary, Delaware DOT, Dover MALCOLM DOUGHERTY, Director, California Department of Transportation, Sacramento A. STEWART FOTHERINGHAM, Professor, School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, University of Arizona, Tempe JOHN S. HALIKOWSKI, Director, Arizona DOT, Phoenix MICHAEL W. HANCOCK, Secretary, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, Frankfort SUSAN HANSON, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, School of Geography, Clark University, Worcester, MA STEVE HEMINGER, Executive Director, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Oakland, CA CHRIS T. HENDRICKSON, Professor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA JEFFREY D. HOLT, Managing Director, Bank of Montreal Capital Markets, and Chairman, Utah Transportation Commission, Huntsville ROGER HUFF, Manager, Ford Global Customs, Material Export Operations, and Logistics Standardization, Ford Motor Company, Farmington Hills, MI GERALDINE KNATZ, Professor, Sol Price School of Public Policy, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles YSELA LLORT, Director, Miami–Dade Transit, Miami, FL ABBAS MOHADDES, President and CEO, Iteris, Inc., Santa Ana, CA DONALD A. OSTERBERG, Senior Vice President, Safety and Security, Schneider National, Inc., Green Bay, WI JAMES REDEKER, Commissioner, Connecticut DOT, Newington MARK ROSENBERG, President and CEO, The Task Force for Global Health, Inc., Decatur, GA SANDRA ROSENBLOOM, Professor, University of Texas, Austin HENRY G. (GERRY) SCHWARTZ, JR., Chairman (retired), Jacobs/Sverdrup Civil, Inc., St. Louis, MO KUMARES C. SINHA, Olson Distinguished Professor of Civil Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN KIRK T. STEUDLE, Director, Michigan DOT, Lansing GARY C. THOMAS, President and Executive Director, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Dallas, TX PAUL TROMBINO III, Director, Iowa DOT, Ames EX OFFICIO MEMBERS THOMAS P. BOSTICK (Lieutenant General, U.S. Army), Chief of Engineers and Commanding General, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Washington, DC JAMES C. CARD (Vice Admiral, U.S Coast Guard, retired), Maritime Consultant, The Woodlands, TX, and Chair, TRB Marine Board ALISON JANE CONWAY, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, City College of New York, NY, and Chair, TRB Young Members Council T. F. SCOTT DARLING III, Acting Administrator and Chief Counsel, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, U.S. DOT SARAH FEINBERG, Acting Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration, U.S. DOT DAVID J. FRIEDMAN, Acting Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. DOT LeROY GISHI, Chief, Division of Transportation, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, DC JOHN T. GRAY II, Senior Vice President, Policy and Economics, Association of American Railroads, Washington, DC MICHAEL P. HUERTA, Administrator, Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. DOT PAUL N. JAENICHEN, SR., Administrator, Maritime Administration, U.S. DOT THERESE W. McMILLAN, Acting Administrator, Federal Transit Administration, U.S. DOT MICHAEL P. MELANIPHY, President and CEO, American Public Transportation Association, Washington, DC GREGORY G. NADEAU, Acting Administrator, Federal Highway Administration, U.S. DOT PETER M. ROGOFF, Under Secretary for Transportation Policy, Office of the Secretary, U.S. DOT MARK R. ROSEKIND, Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. DOT CRAIG A. RUTLAND, U.S. Air Force Pavement Engineer, Air Force Civil Engineer Center, Tyndall Air Force Base, FL VANESSA SUTHERLAND, Acting Deputy Administrator, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, U.S. DOT BARRY R. WALLERSTEIN, Executive Officer, South Coast Air Quality Management District, Diamond Bar, CA GREGORY D. WINFREE, Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology, Office of the Secretary, U.S. DOT FREDERICK G. (BUD) WRIGHT, Executive Director, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Washington, DC PAUL F. ZUKUNFT (Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard), Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of Homeland Security * Membership as of August 2015.

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD WASHINGTON, D.C. 2015 www.TRB.org NAT IONAL COOPERAT IVE H IGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM NCHRP SYNTHESIS 483 Research Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials in Cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration SubScriber categorieS Highways • Maintenance and Preservation Training and Certification of Highway Maintenance Workers A Synthesis of Highway Practice conSultantS Nancy Laffey and Kathryn A. Zimmerman Applied Pavement Technology, Inc. Urbana, Illinois

NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM Systematic, well-designed research provides the most effective approach to the solution of many problems facing highway administra- tors and engineers. Often, highway problems are of local interest and can best be studied by highway departments individually or in coop- eration with their state universities and others. However, the accelerat- ing growth of highway transportation develops increasingly complex problems of wide interest to highway authorities. These problems are best studied through a coordinated program of cooperative research. In recognition of these needs, the highway administrators of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials initiated in 1962 an objective national highway research program employing modern scientific techniques. This program is supported on a continuing basis by funds from participating member states of the Asso- ciation and it receives the full cooperation and support of the Federal Highway Administration, United States Department of Transportation. The Transportation Research Board of the National Research Coun- cil was requested by the Association to administer the research pro- gram because of the Board’s recognized objectivity and understanding of modern research practices. The Board is uniquely suited for this purpose as it maintains an extensive committee structure from which authorities on any highway transportation subject may be drawn; it possesses avenues of communication and cooperation with federal, state, and local governmental agencies, universities, and industry; its relationship to the National Research Council is an insurance of objec- tivity; it maintains a full-time research correlation staff of specialists in highway transportation matters to bring the findings of research directly to those who are in a position to use them. The program is developed on the basis of research needs identified by chief administrators of the highway and transportation departments and by committees of AASHTO. Each year, specific areas of research needs to be included in the program are proposed to the National Research Council and the Board by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Research projects to fulfill these needs are defined by the Board, and qualified research agencies are selected from those that have submitted proposals. Administration and surveillance of research contracts are the responsibilities of the National Research Council and the Transportation Research Board. The needs for highway research are many, and the National Coop- erative Highway Research Program can make significant contributions to the solution of highway transportation problems of mutual concern to many responsible groups. The program, however, is intended to complement rather than to substitute for or duplicate other highway research programs. NCHRP SYNTHESIS 483 Project 20-05 (Topic 46-17) ISSN 0547-5570 ISBN 978-0-309-27203-2 Library of Congress Control No. 2015958401 © 2015 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Authors herein are responsible for the authenticity of their manuscripts and for obtaining written permissions from publishers or persons who own the copyright to any previously published or copyrighted material used herein. Cooperative Research Programs (CRP) grants permission to repro- duce material in this publication for classroom and not-for-profit pur- poses. Permission is given with the understanding that non of the mate- rial will be used to imply TRB, AASHTO, FAA, FHWA, FMSCA, FTA, or Transit development Corporation endorsement of a particular product, method, or practice. It is expected that those reproducing the material in this document for educational and not-for-profit uses will give appropriate acknowledgment of the source of any development or reproduced material. For other uses of the material, request permission from CRP. NOTICE The report was reviewed by the technical panel and accepted for publi- cation according to procedures established and overseen by the Trans- portation Research Board and approved by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The opinions and conclusions expressed or implied in this report are those of the researchers who performed the research and are not neces- sarily those of the Transportation Research Board; the National Acade- mies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; or the program sponsors. The Transportation Research Board; the National Academies of Sci- ences, Engineering, and Medicine; and the sponsors of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program do not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the object of the report. Published reports of the NATIONAL COOPERATIVE HIGHWAY RESEARCH PROGRAM are available from: Transportation Research Board Business Office 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001 and can be ordered through the Internet at: http://www.national-academies.org/trb/bookstore Printed in the United States of America

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, non- governmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president. The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to bring the practices of engineering to advising the nation. Members are elected by their peers for extraordinary contributions to engineering. Dr. C. D. Mote, Jr., is president. The National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine) was established in 1970 under the charter of the National Academy of Sciences to advise the nation on medical and health issues. Members are elected by their peers for distinguished contributions to medicine and health. Dr. Victor J. Dzau is president. The three Academies work together as the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation and conduct other activities to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions. The Academies also encourage education and research, recognize outstanding contributions to knowledge, and increase public understanding in matters of science, engineering, and medicine. Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.national-academies.org. The Transportation Research Board is one of seven major programs of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. The mission of the Transportation Research Board is to increase the benefits that transportation contributes to society by providing leadership in transportation innovation and progress through research and information exchange, conducted within a setting that is objective, interdisciplinary, and multimodal. The Board’s varied activities annually engage about 7,000 engineers, scientists, and other transportation researchers and practitioners from the public and private sectors and academia, all of whom contribute their expertise in the public interest. The program is supported by state transportation departments, federal agencies including the component administrations of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and other organizations and individuals interested in the development of transportation. Learn more about the Transportation Research Board at www.TRB.org.

TOPIC PANEL 46-17 JAMES W. BRYANT, JR, Transportation Research Board ANITA K. BUSH, Nevada Department of Transportation, Carson City WILLIAM BUSHMAN, Anderson and Associates, Inc., Staunton, Virginia JAMES FEDA, JR, South Carolina Department of Transportation, Columbia AMIR N. HANNA, Transportation Research Board MONROE HARRIS “MONTY’ MILLS, Washington State Department of Transportation, Olympia WILFRID A. NIXON, Salt Institute, Alexandria, Virginia ROGER C. OLSON, Bloomington, Minnesota JAMES ROBIDA, Massachusetts Department of Transportation, Worcester MORGAN KESSLER, Federal Highway Administration (Liaison) SYNTHESIS STUDIES STAFF STEPHEN R. GODWIN, Director for Studies and Special Programs JON M. WILLIAMS, Program Director, IDEA and Synthesis Studies JO ALLEN GAUSE, Senior Program Officer GAIL R. STABA, Senior Program Officer DONNA L. VLASAK, Senior Program Officer TANYA M. ZWAHLEN, Consultant DON TIPPMAN, Senior Editor CHERYL KEITH, Senior Program Assistant DEMISHA WILLIAMS, Senior Program Assistant DEBBIE IRVIN, Program Associate COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS STAFF CHRISTOPHER W. JENKS, Director, Cooperative Research Programs CHRISTOPHER J. HEDGES, Manager, National Cooperative Highway Research Program EILEEN P. DELANEY, Director of Publications NCHRP COMMITTEE FOR PROJECT 20-05 CHAIR BRIAN A. BLANCHARD, Florida Department of Transportation MEMBERS STUART D. ANDERSON, Texas A&M University SOCORRO “COCO” BRISENO, California Department of Transportation DAVID M. JARED, Georgia Department of Transportation CYNTHIA L. JONES, Ohio Department of Transportation MALCOLM T. KERLEY, NXL, Richmond, Virginia JOHN M. MASON, JR., Auburn University CATHERINE NELSON, Salem, Oregon ROGER C. OLSON, Bloomington, Minnesota BENJAMIN T. ORSBON, South Dakota Department of Transportation RANDALL R. “RANDY” PARK, Utah Department of Transportation ROBERT L. SACK, New York State Department of Transportation FRANCINE SHAW WHITSON, Federal Highway Administration JOYCE N. TAYLOR, Maine Department of Transportation FHWA LIAISONS JACK JERNIGAN TRB LIAISON STEPHEN F. MAHER Cover figure: Photos 1 and 2: Roller equipment; Photo 3: Collecting sand from a stockpile. Credit: Nevada Department of Transportation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The synthesis was performed under NCHRP Project 20-05 by Ms. Nancy Laffey and Ms. Kathryn A. Zimmerman of Applied Pavement Technology, Inc. The work was conducted under the leadership and guidance of Ms. Jo Allen Gause, Senior Program Officer, Transportation Research Board. Throughout this project, Ms. Gause has provided tremendous support and encouragement. The authors are indebted to the state departments of transportation (DOTs) and provincial ministries of transportation (MOTs) listed in Appendix A that participated in the survey. Their thoughtful responses to the survey are appreciated and their contributions to making this information available are noted. In addition, the time and efforts of the representatives from the Alaska, California, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Utah DOTs; the Clear Roads research program; the Transportation Coordination Curriculum Council (TC3); and the Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute (UGPTI) at North Dakota State University, who participated in the interviews, are recognized with gratitude. Finally, the authors recognize with sincere gratitude and appreciation the contributions of the Topic Panel. Their careful review and insights greatly enhanced the final product.

Highway administrators, engineers, and researchers often face problems for which information already exists, either in documented form or as undocumented experience and practice. This information may be fragmented, scattered, and unevaluated. As a con- sequence, full knowledge of what has been learned about a problem may not be brought to bear on its solution. Costly research findings may go unused, valuable experience may be overlooked, and due consideration may not be given to recommended practices for solving or alleviating the problem. There is information on nearly every subject of concern to highway administrators and engineers. Much of it derives from research or from the work of practitioners faced with problems in their day-to-day work. To provide a systematic means for assembling and evaluating such useful information and to make it available to the entire highway commu- nity, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials—through the mechanism of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program—authorized the Transportation Research Board to undertake a continuing study. This study, NCHRP Proj- ect 20-5, “Synthesis of Information Related to Highway Problems,” searches out and syn- thesizes useful knowledge from all available sources and prepares concise, documented reports on specific topics. Reports from this endeavor constitute an NCHRP report series, Synthesis of Highway Practice. This synthesis series reports on current knowledge and practice, in a compact format, without the detailed directions usually found in handbooks or design manuals. Each report in the series provides a compendium of the best knowledge available on those measures found to be the most successful in resolving specific problems. This synthesis documents front-line maintenance worker training and certification prac- tices for highway transportation agencies in the United States and Canada. The information presented includes the types of topics being addressed by training and certification programs, the delivery methods used to provide the training, the sources of instruction, and whether material-sharing relationships are being utilized to access training. In addition, the synthesis captures how training is related to performance and the incentives being used by state and provincial agencies to encourage front-line maintenance workers to complete training. Information used in this study was gathered through a literature review and a survey of state departments of transportation and Canadian provincial transportation agencies. Follow-up interviews with selected agencies provided additional information. Nancy Laffey and Kathryn A. Zimmerman, Applied Pavement Technology, Inc., Urbana, Illinois, collected and synthesized the information and wrote the report. The members of the topic panel are acknowledged on the preceding page. This synthesis is an immediately useful document that records the practices that were acceptable with the limitations of the knowledge available at the time of its preparation. As progress in research and practice continues, new knowledge will be added to that now at hand. FOREWORD PREFACE By Jo Allen Gause Senior Program Officer Transportation Research Board