The Road Scholar Program

The Roads Scholar Program is an educational certification series offered to county, municipal and tribal government elected officials and their employees. It presents courses related to the technical aspects of planning, maintaining and constructing roads and bridges at the local and tribal government level. The series consists of eight courses that total approximately 112 hours of instruction and laboratory experience. Those who complete all of the courses are awarded a Roads Scholars completion certificate. The eight courses of the series are as follows:

• Course 1

  Aggregate Road Maintenance. This one-day course covers the fundamentals of maintaining low volume roads. Drainage, road cross sections, culvert installation, soil properties and amendments, grading methods, use of geo-synthetics and chip sealing are all discussed.

• Course 2

  Excavation Safety. This one-day course makes students aware of the dangers inherent with trenching and excavation. This enables them to identify and predict hazards and to take corrective measures to control them. After completion of the class, students are qualified to be named a Trench Competent Person by their employer.

• Course 3

  Testing for Soil Properties. This two-day course covers the tests used to determine the engineering characteristics of soils used to construct roadways and embankments. Sieve analysis, Atterburg limits, Proctors and nuclear density tests are discussed and demonstrated. Emphasis is placed on explaining how these tests can be used to improve the characteristics of soils through the use of soil amendments.

• Course 4

  MUTCD, Part 6. This two-day course covers what is required to comply with Part VI of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), Temporary Traffic Control. The first day of the class familiarizes students with the theory of how traffic control devices and signs are properly used in temporary traffic control situations including flagging procedures. The second day of the class addresses how to make use of the MUTCD Typical Applications and the development of Traffic Control Plans

• Course 5

  Pavement Preservation (When, Where, and How) This one-day workshop includes topics related to pavement preservation concepts, process introduction, agency perspective, application techniques, site selection, combination treatments and an opportunity for discussion with recognized industry leaders. Attendees will gain an understanding of the fundamentals of Pavement Preservation with an emphasis on Micro Surfacing and Chip Seal.

• Course 6

  Traffic Incident Management Basics. This 4-hour class is available to all disciplines of emergency responders, is a pre-requisite to attend the 6-hour TIMS Instructor class, and covers building teams who can work together in a coordinated manner, from the moment the first emergency call is made. You will learn the correct deployment of response vehicles and equipment, how to create a safe work area using traffic control devices, and techniques to speed up accident clearance with an emphasis on reducing the number of struck-by and deaths of roadway workers and responders, reducing secondary crashes, reducing on-scene times of responders of roadway incidents and continuing public education with regard to Oklahoma traffic laws pertaining to this issue.

   

• Course 7

  Project Management. This two-day course goes into detail on the various management tools available to efficiently run road and bridge operations.  Project management modeling methods and resource estimation methods are addressed.  Students work on case studies using these methods in simulation of real world type projects.

• Course 8

  Plan Reading. This class will change the way you think about reading and understanding roadway construction plans.  You will learn the primary elements of a set of roadway plans and what each element contains.  We will touch on the title sheet, schematic plan, utility plan, typical sections, general notes, maintenance of traffic plans, plan/profile sheets, cross sections, and miscellaneous details.   Several practical exercises provide students an opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of course content.  By the end of the training, you will possess the knowledge to communicate key details about any set of roadway plans to those interested.