PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM

To develop, in an integrated fashion, the basic dexterities to employees of the Department of Transportation and Public Works in the following areas: construction, maintenance, soil mechanics, drainage, security, traffic control, and management, among others.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM

• The program consists of a 60 day seminar in technical areas such as drainage, environmental issues, road security, materials, transportation, pavements, and management of projects, among others.
• These seminars will be supplemented in related areas such as supervision dexterities, technical writings, and aspects of the legislation applicable to transportation.
• The participants must attend 70% of the sessions of training offered by the Center.

BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS

• To acquire dexterities that will provide possible new opportunities in the Agency that you work.
• Although this program is non-conductive to an academic degree, it provides a comprehensive training looking towards developing the dexterities of the participants at minimum cost for the participant agencies.
• Recognition with a certificate of the Center.

DESCRIPTION OF COURSES

Drainage / Environmental 

1. Practical Guidelines for Inspection and Maintenance of Highway Surface Drainage Systems

• Introduction to fundamental concepts applicable to the drainage infrastructure of highways.
• Present fundamentals in hydrology and hydraulics that apply to the drainage of highways.
• Analyze and design typical works for drainages in highways using the guidelines of the Federal Highway Administration. 

2. An Introduction to Environmental Considerations in Transportation Activities

• Identify the main causes of the environmental problems that affect our society and today's world.
• Provide the basic tools for the analysis of the environmental impacts to our natural resources caused by transportation activities.
• Illustrate the mechanism through which contamination is involved in transportation activities and to establish a relationship among the human health, the vegetation and the animal life, and the common wealth of the environmental contamination generated by transportation activities. 

3. Regulations for Disposal and Management of Hazardous Substances Using Transportation Facilities

• Identify toxic and dangerous substances and the risks involved during their handling and transportation.
• Presentation of effective federal and state legislation that regulates these activities.
• Presentation of the storage protocols, packing, shipping and handling, and the final disposition of toxic waste and the dangers involved. 

Materials / Soil Mechanics

1.      Basic Concepts, Tests and Evaluation of Concrete

• Provide a basic knowledge of concrete emphasizing the measures that will help to achieve a better quality and to test, evaluate, and accept the concrete during the construction phase. 

2.      Soil Mechanics Applied to Highway Construction

• To familiarize the participants with the basic concepts of soil mechanics in civil engineering. The seminar is intended for those in charge of highway construction and engineers-in-training. 

Safety

1.      Practical Guidelines for Work Zone Safety in Highway Construction Projects

• Presentation of the procedures and basic norms of security to continue in seasonal work areas of highways.
• Demonstration of new devices developed for the basic control in the work areas.
• Familiarize the participants with the basic concepts for the design, installation and inspection of areas of traffic control.
• Development of plans of traffic control for the five primary categories of areas of control of temporary traffic as defined in the Manual of Uniform Devices for the Control of Traffic (MUTCD) according to the work duration.

2. Tort Liability in Accidents Related to Highways

• Familiarize the participant with the obligations and responsibilities.
• Presentation of laws and cases against the State.
• Responsibility for damages by the Government and the Highway and Transportation Authority.

Management

1. Construction Management

• Practical guidelines of the main management components of projects with applications to transportation. 
• Descriptions of the main components of the process.
• Visits to projects where an exchange of ideas will be obtained among the participants, the instructor, and the engineer y/o inspector of the project.
• Description of computer programs and procedures used in the management of construction projects (CPM, PERT, SPRING, Microsoft Project).

2. Practices for the Inspection of Highway Construction

• Inspector's list guide for construction of highways.
• Discussion of practical examples from the inspector's kust associated with different projects of transportation engineering; rehabilitation of pavements, improvements to the drainage, installation of gabions, geo-textiles, maintenance of bridges, construction of embankments, improvements to the road, etc. 

3. Practices for the Preparation and Revision of Specifications for the Construction of Highways

• Introduction to the basic principles of engineering, legal aspects, and the linguistics associated with the preparation of specifications applied to transportation engineering.
• Guides to develop drafts of new specifications or rewrite existing ones in a clear, readable, and defined way for a contract.
• The participants will have the opportunity to revise hypothetical specifications provided by the instructor. 

Pavements

1. Practical Techniques for Evaluation and Maintenance of Flexible Pavements

• Introduction to the practical methods for the evaluation, routine maintenance and rehabilitation of pavements.
• Evaluation of sections of existent pavements and determination of pavement maintenance necessities.

2. Practices for the Placement and Compaction of Asphalt Mixtures

• Procedures for the placement and compaction of pavements of hot-mix asphalt
• Familiarize the participants with the pavement equipment used.
• Familiarize the participants with the construction of pavements joints and to recognize deficiencies during the process of placement of the mixtures. 
• To familiarize the participants with the basic principles of compaction, the types of flattening used, compaction procedures and the requirements for acceptance of the final product such as texture and density among others.

Transportation

1. Parking Studies

• Provide guidelines to analyze the parking necessities and plan for the provision of parking facilities to satisfy customer necessities, employees and the demand in residential areas.
• Discussion of necessary parking studies to quantify parking needs

2. Basic Mass Transit Concepts

• Introduction to public transportation systems focusing in local aspects. 
• Introduction to existent and proposed local systems.

3. Introduction to Conceptual Geometric Design of Highways

• Identify the different stages of the process of highway design.
• Identify basic aspects of traffic flow that are important in the conceptual geometric design.
• Present the procedure of the conceptual geometric design for cases of new designs and redesign of existent facilities.
• Present applications from the conceptual geometric design to the design of interceptions. 

4. Traffic Engineering

• Introduction to traffic flow with and without interruptions
• Application analysis and evaluation of segments in highways and intersections.

Related Seminars

1. Guidelines for Improving Supervisory Skills for Transportation Officials

• The course will cover important elements of human resources, communication dexterities, project administration, conditions of change in the work area, and the crisis handling in the employment.
• Technical, basic and necessary methods for supervisors will be presented.

2. Introduction to Computer Aided Design for Public Work Agencies

• To demonstrate the application of the CAD systems in the area of public works. 
• To demonstrate the basic functions of CAD systems available in the market.

3. Technical Presentations Skills for Transportation Officials

• To prepare and to drive an effective presentation
• To present methods and audiovisual help to prepare an effective presentation
• Development of methods of evaluation of the presentation