LOCAL ROADS TRAINING PROGRAM 1991-1992 By WILLIAM T. SUNLEY, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets Credits to: Dennis Whitehead, Local Program Evaluation Engineer.

Another Local Roads and Streets training season is fast approaching and our training brochure is nearing completion. Our 1991-1992 brochure details all of our tuition-free courses and will be mailed in August to all municipal engineers, directors of public works, and county superintendents of highways. In municipalities where no engineering department exists, the municipal clerks will also receive copies. New for this year, our brochure will be included on the Local Roads and Streets Electronic Bulletin Board System (BBS). Also new for this year, you will have the option of being able to enroll in our classes by utilizing our BBS. To utilize this system, dial 217-524-5330. If you are not familiar with BBSs, you may request a BBS Manual by writing to the Illinois Department of Transportation, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets, Attention: Brad Smrcina, 2300 South Dirksen Parkway, Room 200C, Springfield, Illinois 62764.

Our curriculum contains the same classes as last year with additional presentations of the more popular classes. One of these is the Detention Basin Design class. This class is normally only offered every other year, but last year's demand was so large that we are offering it again this year. Bituminous and Portland Cement Concrete Proportioning and Testing classes are being offered both in Springfield and Schaumburg this year. An additional Documentation class will be offered in Peoria, and an additional Pavement Maintenance class will be offered in Mt. Vernon.

Several additional classes are being offered this year. Four classes of our Snow Removal and Ice Control are being offered throughout the State, including Glen Ellyn, Peoria, and Collinsville. For these classes to be more valuable to the students attending, we are planning on having snow plow equipment on display at the locations of these classes. For your own agency's training purposes, the four part video tape from this class can be obtained from our Training Unit upon request. Three presentations of our new class. Rehabilitating Low Volume Roads, will be offered. This class provides a "hands on" perspective on rehabilitating existing flexible roads. In Springfield this year, we are also offering two computer software classes on the basics of Data Ease and Lotus 1-2-3. This year we are offering several classes in Schaumburg and Springfield of the IDOT's new Certified Flaggers class. This is a half-day class where work zone safety is stressed. IDOT has completely packaged this class so that any approved organization will be able to conduct their own classes of this training.

Our brochure includes the dates of our classes, their locations, descriptions, and the prerequisites we feel necessary. We request that these prerequisites be considered when enrolling people in our classes. Our instruction is geared toward students having the necessary skills listed in our brochure. Our instructors are not able to take the time necessary to cover any extra material in addition to the subject matter they are covering. Students without the appropriate skills will not be able

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to gain as much from these classes. A "no cost" self- study math refresher course that we highly recommend is available upon request. Also, students should be familiar with their calculators before attending classes where their use is required.

The enrollment form is included in our brochure. We request that you return this form to us at your earliest convenience, so that we may be able to locate larger facilities or add more classes if enrollment warrants. This year we have added more classes to allow everyone who requests a class, to be able to attend it. For those classes where enrollment is greater than we can accommodate, we may have to ask that enrollment be restricted to one student per agency so that each agency enrolled will be able to participate. At the same time, a minimum of 20 enrollees is normally required in order to warrant having a class.

One of the goals of the Bureau of Local Roads and Streets Training Unit is to be sensitive to your training needs. We want to supply you with the training classes that you want and need. We are interested in any new courses you would like added and any locations where you feel we could have well attended classes. We are receptive to any ideas and suggestions you have that would modify or improve our existing courses to better fulfill your needs. Also, we are especially interested in anyone willing to help teach in our classes. We are particularly interested in people who could help us in topics that we have no classes for now. A primary goal of our program has always been to utilize individuals with "hands on" expertise to help teach our classes. We feel that this approach provides classes that are well balanced and more useful to all agencies. Any input, ideas, or potential volunteers should be directed to the Illinois Department of Transportation, Engineer of Local Roads and Streets, Attention: Training Unit, 2300 South Dirksen Parkway, Room 210, Springfield, Illinois 62764.

We are looking forward to another training season. We hope that this year you will find courses that will help fulfill your agency's training needs. •

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