Advanced Roads Scholar Program

Ada self evaluations/elements of prowag

With the 25-year anniversary of the passage of ADA, it is critical that local governments recognize their obligation to upgrade streets, sidewalks and facilities for accessibility. ADA requires that public agencies perform self-evaluations and prepare transition plans. They were to have been completed by July 26, 1992 and be updated periodically. The morning portion of the workshop examines the background to, contents of and enforcement of the self-evaluation and transition plan requirements. Several landmark court cases are also highlighted. A case study is presented to illustrate these items. Participants will leave the session with a “To Do” list of next steps they need to take and a toolkit of helpful resources. The afternoon session overviews the current criteria for accessible public rights-of-way including the pedestrian access route, curb ramps and detectable warnings, accessible pedestrian signals, street furniture, on-street parking and temporary traffic control requirements for pedestrians.

 

ADA in Temporary Traffic Control

After a brief discussion of the relevant legal authorities (ADA, PROWAG, MUTCD), the workshop describes the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities as they travel in the built environment. The basic requirements of the Pedestrian Access Route are reviewed, including width, protruding objects, cross slope, grade, surfaces and curb ramps/detectable warnings. The requirements for the alternate pedestrian access route are reviewed. Tools to minimize the impacts of construction/maintenance/utility operations on pedestrians will be discussed, namely: 1) phasing of construction, 2) utilizing detailed plans, 3) effective signing/communication and 4) effective barriers/barricades. The session will conclude with an interactive review/discussion of various work zone scenarios and best practices.
Upon completion of the class, participants will be able to: 1) assess a TTC zone set-up for compliance with ADA/MUTCD and 2) design a compliant TTC zone.

 

Advanced Computer Skills: Practical Applications

This full-day workshop is entirely focused on practical applications of spreadsheets, reports, and presentations in your organization. The workshop will demonstrate the effectiveness of various computer programs with actual files that you use regularly. Click the course title for more information.

The workshop will include

• Classroom instruction and discussion
• Hands -on computer usage
• The computer programs that are helpful in making spreadsheets, reports, and presentations, such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
• Calculations and analysis which can provide useful information for your organization
• How to present your information in an effective way

Participants are strongly encouraged to bring (or email Daniel_Findley@ncsu.edu in advance of the course) examples of files to review and improve during the workshop.

 

Confined Space Entry and Lockout/Tagout

This workshop is a natural follow up to the Trenching Competent Person workshop. It is a must for any field supervisor who has crews working in confined spaces, such as: manholes, catch basins, meter vaults, and excavations deeper than four feet.

 

Designing Pedestrian Facilities for Accessibility

Facilities in the public right-of-way (including walkways, ramps, curb ramps and landings, crosswalks, and pedestrian overpasses and underpasses) must be designed, constructed and maintained to serve all users. To meet the needs of all users, those involved with designing, building and maintaining infrastructure need a clear understanding of the wide range of abilities that occur within the population and the challenges in the public right-of-way faced by persons with disabilities. This course will identify applicable laws, regulations, guidelines and standards pertaining to accessibility for persons with disabilities. Requirements for ensuring accessibility in existing facilities versus work in new construction and alternations will be discussed. Design elements necessary for achieving accessibility in the public right-of-way will be reviewed. Best practices will be identified. A detailed handout will be provided, including resources on accessibility.

Specific Topics to Be Covered Include:

• Americans with Disabilities Act Accessibility Guidelines (ADAAG) and Public Rights-of-Way Accessibility Guidelines: Laws and Regulations
• Legal Requirements
• Pedestrian Characteristics
• Pedestrian Access Route (PAR)
• Curb Ramps and Other Transitions
• Detectable Warnings
• Pedestrian Crossings
• Street Furniture and Parking
• Work Zones and Maintenance
• Accessible Pedestrian Signals

The target audience for this workshop is local, state and private sector personnel with responsibility for designing, constructing and maintaining facilities in the public right—of-way. These include engineers (municipal and consulting), MPO staff, technicians, public works directors, street supervisors, crew leaders, landscape architects and contractors.

Erosion Control

The seminar will focus on current methods of erosion control. The material will be targeted toward non-engineers, but include valuable information and reviews for everyone no matter their experience or skill level.  The class style will include data, pictures, graphs, and, ofcourse, what we can all learn from previous project failures.  

 

Fall Protection

On the subject of OSHA Fall Protection requirements for protection of employees, workers in local and state government, as well as construction firms can be subject to general industry regulations while performing some duties and construction industry regulations on other occasions.  In addition, Federal OSHA has issued quite a number of fall protection interpretations that pertain, but are not included in these two books of OSHA regulations.

This class will provide an overview of these many different fall protection provisions, interpretations and grandfathered work environments.  For many years, fall protection has been the #1 and #2 most frequently cited serious citations issued by Federal OSHA all across the U.S.  Insurance companies report that fall protection is also the #1 cause of disabling injuries AND third-party litigation against general contractors and owners resulting from injuries on a jobsite.  Fall protection is also #1 on the list of State and Federal OSHAs Focus Four hazards inspection program resulting in the impromptu ride-by compliance inspections of crews working on or near the road.  One citation avoided or one lawsuit prevented can provide ample justification for sending all employees to this course.

 

Guardrail Design, Installation and Maintenance

This workshop addresses decision making criteria for engineers such as guardrail warrants, length of need, maintenance planning and damage assessment. Also covers: various types of guardrail hardware and focuses on the various end treatments designed to meet the FHWA 350 crash tests.

 

How to Keep Yourself and Your Agency Out of Court

This workshop will provide an understanding of the importance and implications of tort liability risk for road agencies.  The class will cover risk management principles, review risk management activities, and identify ways to reduce risk.  Students will study examples that show the importance of considering human behavior when planning for their city or town.

 

Inspecting Curb ramps

This in-person class focuses on inspection of curb ramps and identifying unacceptable mistakes so that the constructed ramps will meet the needs of all users.  The 90-minute classroom portion will introduce key terms and discuss the necessary measuring tools.  The types of sidewalk-to-street transitions and the basic requirements for each in terms of widths, cross slopes, turning spaces, grades, flares and how to measure each will be presented.  Requirements for detectable warning surfaces will also be described.  The classroom portion of the session concludes with identification and discussion of “top ten” curb ramp mistakes.   Participants will then move outdoors for 90 minutes to apply what they learned in the classroom by inspecting and measuring a variety of actual curb ramps.  A wheelchair will be available so participants can negotiate ramps of different designs. 

 

Management Techniques for Experienced Managers

The Management Techniques for Experienced Managers is for supervisors and managers with some years of experience in their positions. Subjects include: resource management, negotiation skills, ethics, delegation, coordination with other units, team building, planning, setting priorities. A variety of instructional strategies is used: lecture, large group discussions, small group exercises and skill practices. The final activity brings all of the elements discussed earlier into focus by having the small groups complete a case study.

 

OSHA 10-Hour Safety Training

This workshop is an important tool in meeting OSHA requirements to provide employees with an awareness of the basic hazards that exist in the field. Over a 10-hour period, this workshop covers many important basic safety requirements that field employees must know that are in OSHA’s Standards for the Construction Industry. OSHA inspectors can enforce these safety rules for field employees working in the public or private sector.

 

Reducing RoadWay Departure Crashes

When a vehicle leaves the travel lane or the roadway, the results can be deadly. More than half of the annual fatal crashes in the U.S. relate to roadway departures. Roadway departure crashes are the leading cause of traffic deaths in many states. This workshop provides participants with some tools for addressing roadway departure crashes. Topics covered include a discussion of engineering countermeasures as well as implementation strategies.

One, often low-cost, strategy to address this issue is to reduce the potential for leaving the roadway, i.e., techniques to help keep vehicles on the roadway. Use of signing, delineation and rumble strips/stripes to reduce roadway departures is described with specific reference to relevant sections of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. For those vehicles leaving the traveled way, it is important to try to improve the chances for a safe recovery. Techniques for improving shoulders and slopes and ditches are reviewed. Removing or relocating objects such as trees and utility poles in the clear zone are also addressed. The workshop concludes with discussion of how to minimize the severity of roadway departure crashes that do occur. Relevant techniques include breakaway supports, making roadside features traversable and shielding obstacles. Enhancing mailbox safety is also discussed. Numerous links to technical resources on this topic will be provided.

 

Roadside Landscaping in North Carolina

This class is taught by the NCDOT Roadside Environmental Unit, Construction & Maintenance, Operations, Division of Highways. Topics for this class will include: Equipment Calibration for Vegetation Managers, Pesticide Recommendations for Turf grass and Brush, Backpack Calibration, Ornamental Weed Control (Pre- and Post-Applications), Inspecting Ornamentals – Practical Experience, Useful Ornamentals in the Landscape, Wildflower and Herbicidal Research.

 

Silica’s New Standard – Strategies for Municipal Compliance

Beginning on September 23, 2017 the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) implemented the new permissible exposure level (PEL) for workers exposed to respirable crystalline silica to be 50 micrograms per cubic meter over an average 8-hour period.  Please note that this new exposure limit is expressed in MICROgrams (millionths of a gram).  Without exaggeration, if this silica dust is visible in a field operation, this new PEL could be exceeded!  Municipalities and construction contractors will be particularly impacted by this new regulation because of the variety of tools that are routinely used on concrete pavement, sidewalk and curbing, asphalt pavement and any number of other concrete related products in their day-to-day work activities. Jack hammers, rotary hammers, along with any number of different types of concrete saws, chippers and grinders are of particular concern.   Fortunately, the new OSHA regulations do allow for special exceptions on a limited number of these tools.   Moreover, OSHA regulations require that respirator use (worn by workers) can only be selected and utilized as the last resort in achieving compliance.  NC LTAP has a seven-hour program available for in-house delivery to help large and small organizations plan for, implement and comply with this new, much stricter workplace standard.

 

Stormwater Hydrology

This workshop is an introduction to stormwater hydrology and drainage design. The morning session will concentrate on the movement of water over the earth’s surface. The afternoon session will deal with the design elements of urban stormwater systems.

 

Traffic Calming

Traffic engineers, street supervisors and other public officials face a growing number of complaints about high motor vehicle speeds and volumes in residential neighborhoods. This can occur on classifications from local streets to minor arterials. The issue can also occur on state highways passing through small- and medium-size communities. This workshop will discuss typical traffic problems in neighborhoods and their causes. Geometric design features and traffic control strategies to provide safer and more livable neighborhoods will be described, including residential area traffic circles, curb extensions (bulb-outs), median islands, realigned intersections, speed humps, chokers and diverters. Impacts of these features on roadway users (pedestrians/bicyclists, emergency vehicles, transit and maintenance and related vehicles) will be reviewed along with legal and liability issues. Attention will also be given to the process of traffic calming, including public participation, identification of the problem and plan development, approval and implementation.

 

Traffic Sign Retroreflectivity/Pavement Markings

Traffic signs provide an important means of communicating information to road users. They need to be visible to be effective. The nighttime environment presents many sign visibility challenges. Since drivers cannot see as many visual cues as they can during the day, this places greater reliance on signs and other traffic control devices. To provide nighttime sign visibility, most signs are made from retroreflective sheeting. Retroreflectivity is the property of a material that re-directs light back to the originating source. Since the retroreflective properties of signs deteriorate over time, road and street officials should assess their schedules for inspecting, cleaning and replacing signs to ensure that these maintenance activities meet the objectives of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and, more importantly, the needs of drivers at night. This workshop will help practitioners gain a better understanding of sign retroreflectivity issues in order to improve the overall nighttime visibility of traffic signs.

Topics covered include:

• Why is sign retroreflectivity important?
• Basic retroreflectivity science
• Types of retroreflective materials
• Measuring retroreflectivity
• Minimum retroreflectivity levels
• Maintenance/Management methods.

This workshop should be of interest to state and local roadway agency personnel who install and maintain signs, traffic engineers, public works directors, street supervisors and anyone involved in traffic safety.

 

Trenching Competent Person and hands-on soil classification

The OSHA safety regulations for trenching and other types of excavations require a trained “competent person” to be at the excavation whenever any employees are involved working in or near the hole. Come learn the required OSHA technique for proper hands-on classification of soils that trained competent persons must be able to perform in order to meet the requirements of OSHA for soil types A, B and C. Give your employees every advantage by taking the same national award winning program that has been taught to hundreds of OSH compliance officers in several states since 1989.

 

Work Zone Traffic Control Supervisor

This three-day course is designed for DOT, larger municipalities, and highway contractors that work on all highway systems, including two-lane roads, multi-lane roadways, and high-volume, high-speed, controlled access facilities. This course covers traffic control plan reading and development, positive protection, work zone capacity, night work, and inspection. Part 6 of the MUTCD and state DOT “Roadway Standard Drawings” are used as the text for this course. Additional handouts are used to supplement these materials. All work zone durations are covered in this course. Participants will be tested at the conclusion of the workshop for NCDOT Work Zone Supervisor certification. Certification for the Basic and Intermediate Work Zone Safety Courses are both included in this course. This certification is valid for 4 years.

 

Work Zone Traffic Control Supervisor Recertification

This workshop is intended for people who have completed ITRE’s ‘Work Zone Traffic Control Supervisor’ course and now need recertification. With NCDOT requiring recertification every 4 years, this course will address updates in work zone safety, including any changes to NCDOT Roadway Standard Drawings and Part 6 of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. All participants who successfully complete the course will be certified for another 4 years as a Work Zone Traffic Control Supervisor.

 

Writing Skills for Transportation Personnel

This workshop will give you the specific strategies you need to strengthen your writing skills. Participants will learn how to master the essentials for writing reports, proposals, memos, and letters; overcome “writer’s block”; edit technical information effectively; and identify and correct common problems of grammar and punctuation.