The Local Roads Training Program By JOHN W. McCREE Bureau of Local Roads and Streets, IDOT

The Illinois Department of Transportation, through its Bureau of Local Roads and Streets, will again this season sponsor and present the Local Roads Training Program; a curriculum of tuition-free courses in road and bridge design, construction, inspection, maintenance and materials intended exclusively for municipal and county employees and personnel from qualifying consulting engineering firms. At this writing the dates and locations for the upcoming season are being formulated. Our brochure with enrollment form, will be mailed to all municipalities, counties and consulting engineering firms in late August.

The training period logically runs through the fall and winter months because of the availability of employees for instruction.

A major problem throughout the Program's existence has been the "no show" students. In our scheduling it is necessary for us to hold several of our classes outdoors, hopefully during good weather conditions. Of course, if the weather is good for outside classes, it's also good for working outside; and a lot of our prospective students operate snow equipment in the event of that emergency. This we can live with. In the past, however, we have changed classroom locations to accommodate the anticipated enrollment, only to find that the original site would have been large enough for the actual amount of students who attended. We request that once you have students enrolled that you inform us of any subsequent cancellations.

Another major problem has been the student who does attend the class but does not meet the prerequisites for the course. This puts the student at an extreme disadvantage since the instructors are teaching to those with the necessary background. Mainly this deficiency is math-related so we encourage you to take advantage of our Mathematics Refresher Course. This is available at no cost of the prospective student who may not have the prerequisite math background for future courses or who desires to become more proficient in math. This course is designed as a self-instruction method for home or on the job study consisting of 17 individual units. Each unit contains a step-by-step explanation of the subject it covers, with job-related problems for the student to solve. Complete information is contained on the last page of our brochure.

Watch for our brochure. If you are going to enroll your personnel in any of our classes, please return the enrollment form at your earliest convenience. We cannot send confirmation of enrollment to each individual student, but notification of the actual location of each class will be sent approximately two weeks in advance of the convening date to the person who signs the form.

We are always receptive to suggestions for additional courses or comments on improving the program. Any input should be directed to the Engineer of Local Roads and Streets, Illinois Department of Transportation, 2300 South Dirksen Parkway, Springfield, Illinois 62764. Attention: Training Unit. •

July 1988 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 19