personnel. In most instances, the workshops and courses were developed and conducted by universities and training consultants under contracts funded and supervised by the NHI.
Under the terms of the 1970 Act, the States may use up to ½ percent of their apportioned Federal funds for highway purposes (except Interstate funds) for education and training of State and local highway department employees with two conditions: (1) The States may not pay more than 70 percent of the costs of tuition and direct educational expenses from this fund, which leaves the States to provide at least 30 percent of the costs; and (2) no Federal funds can be used for travel, subsistence, or salaries of the employees being trained.
One of the major efforts of the Institute has been to encourage the States to take advantage of this optional program to broaden their own training programs. Since this Federal financial assistance is not an independent source of funds—it is highway construction funds being used for training purposes—the States have been slow to take advantage of this opportunity. Presently, approximately 20 States are programing a portion of their eligible Federal funds for training and educational activities.
However, the NHI program for fellowship and scholarship awards to FHWA, State, and local employees has been very successful. Currently, the Institute is awarding approximately 40 annual fellowships in highway transportation research and education and 40 in highway safety at $5,000 each, and about 50 scholarships are awarded annually in highway technology at $2,500 each.
At the time the Institute was established, it was assigned the responsibility for administering FHWA’s ongoing orientation and training programs for foreign highway officials and engineers, which had been handled by the Foreign Projects Division along with its foreign construction program. The activities arranged by the Institute for the foreign groups range in duration and depth from a 1-day meeting with selected officials to a year or more of academic study at a university offering the type of highway-related curriculum desired. In fiscal year 1974, the NHI arranged programs for a total of 763 foreign officials and engineers from 56 different countries.
The NHI also serves as a clearinghouse of useful information related to training and education of highway employees. It seeks to assist the States in identifying particular types of training and maintains a referral service of training aids.
To give direction to the extensive training effort of FHWA, the Administrator has moved lately toward establishing national training goals, or areas of training emphasis, for managers throughout the FHWA. While these national training goals are pointed toward the development of FHWA employees, they also have implications for State highway and transportation officials in two ways. In one instance, the FHWA employees will be using their new knowledges and skills to assist the States with their highway and transportation missions. In the other instance, the State officials will be invited to make use of courses developed to achieve the FHWA’s national training goals.
Training has been one of the key elements to the successful administration of the Federal-aid highway program throughout the years. It will most likely continue to be a main support of the greatest public works program in the world.
REFERENCES
