The Connecticut Transportation Center’s (CTI) own Donna Shea co-authored an article appearing in the November/December 2008 issue of Public Roads, a journal of the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration. Her collaborator on the article, entitled “LTAP/TTAP: 25 Years of Service,” is Denise Saunders, Federal Highway Administration program manager for the Local Technical Assistance Program/Tribal Technical Assistance Program (LTAP/TTAP) program.
Ms. Shea is a nine-year veteran of the CTI, program director of the Technology Transfer Center and director of the Connecticut LTAP center. She is also president-elect of the National LTAP Association, a not-for-profit organization representing and serving the 58 LTAP and TTAP member centers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.
Ms. Shea said the aim of the article was to highlight the 25-year history and success of the nationwide LTAP/TTAP network, which provides training, technical assistance and materials to local and tribal governmental employees responsible for the construction, maintenance and operation of roadways across the U.S. The program has conducted more than 60,000 training workshops and programs, and trained more than 1.5 million transportation professionals over the last decade, in subjects ranging from worker safety, winter road maintenance and environmental issues to safe removal of roadway debris and tort liability. The LTAP/TTAP program also publishes technical booklets and manuals on various subjects. The program also maintains an online clearinghouse (www.ltap2.org).
Federal, state and local transportation authorities are concerned about a serious decline in the number of new transportation employees entering the workforce as large numbers of skilled workers retire, taking with them the institutional knowhow and field-test experience needed to ensure roadway safety. A 2003 report published by the Transportation Research Board suggested that 50% of state transportation agency workers are eligible to retire by 2013. This scenario reduces the pool of experienced workers actively working in the transportation industry; the LTAP/TTAP program is a vital resource helping states and communities to bridge this widening gap.
Read the full article online at http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/08nov/02.htm.
