History: A Past That’s Shaped Our Future
AASHTO Technical Training Solutions launched in summer 2000, with the purpose of improving training opportunities for transportation technical workers, while applying innovative measures to reduce duplication of efforts and costs to state and local transportation agencies.
AASHTO Technical Training Solutions was developed as a partnership among state departments of transportation (DOTs), Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and its National Highway Institute (NHI), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), industry associations and institutes, and academia.
AASHTO Technical Training Solutions combined resources and knowledge to develop standardized technical training materials for all stakeholders. The Council’s goals included developing a core curriculum to support national priorities that could be used by any agency to improve the skills and qualifications of the transportation technical workforce.
The initial training courses were developed to be instructor-led with participants attending in person; economic challenges made that idea impractical on a large scale. As technological advances in distance learning using the Internet became more acceptable, AASHTO Technical Training Solutions selected online learning as its primary training platform.
During the first ten years of its history, AASHTO Technical Training Solutions gathered momentum by developing high-quality products for its customers. The Council responded to the curriculum needs of the DOTs and established a proven course development process by engaging subject matter experts throughout the industry. As a result, AASHTO Technical Training Solutions has more than 190 online training courses available in the areas of construction, maintenance, and materials.
In 2013, AASHTO Technical Training Solutions joined AASHTO as a technical service program (TSP). By mid-2015, AASHTO Technical Training Solutions launched an AASHTO-based learning management system (LMS) to host its courses, a platform that provides easier user access as well as course tracking and evaluation.
Who Does AASHTO Technical Training Solutions Benefit?
- Training Managers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions provides “first-step, one-stop shopping” to training managers.
- Construction/Materials/Maintenance Engineers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions increases the availability of cost-effective training in all skill sets, advancing the education of the state transportation workforce to enable it to deliver high-quality training at all levels.
- Construction/Materials/Maintenance Technicians: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions helps technicians achieve a stable and efficient operating skill set, enhancing their goals and job performance and helping to advance their careers, as well as the personal rewards of their work.
- Construction Managers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions maintains a training database and core curriculum for the transportation workforce to ensure high-quality construction and maintenance that conforms to plans and standards.
- Maintenance Managers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions provides training courses for maintenance workers to keep the system in a good and safe operating condition to ensure maximum access, safety, and mobility.
- Materials Engineers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions provides training materials for technicians to ensure the use of high-quality, suitable materials in the construction and maintenance of the highway system.
- Human Resource Managers: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions helps human resource managers prepare and maintain a workforce capable of meeting the agency’s continually changing challenges and new technologies by providing the latest information and training.
- Local Transportation Agencies/MPOs: AASHTO Technical Training Solutions is a national resource that helps local agencies save money while reaping the benefits of optimal workforce development, including more productive and efficient construction and maintenance activity to deliver the highest-quality products to the roadway customer.