State transportation agencies are tasked with doing more to manage highway transportation networks with fewer staff. TRB hosted a webinar on Tuesday, June 23, 2020 from 2:00 to 3:30 PM Eastern that presented guidance for addressing workforce challenges within the construction industry. Presenters identified how agencies determine their construction staffing needs and explained how to allocate their state or consultant engineering and inspection staff and resources to highway construction projects. The guidance provides 35 specific staffing strategies that may help alleviate construction staffing challenges.

This webinar draws on research from the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Research Report 923: Workforce Optimization Workbook for Transportation Construction Projects.

The slides are available. Contact Reggie GIllum for a copy of the recorded webinar.

Webinar agenda and presenters

1. Introduction and key findings: Roy Sturgill, Iowa State University
2. Overview and use of the Workforce Optimization Workbook (WOW): Ying Li, University of Kentucky
3. Overview and use of the electronic Workforce Optimization Workbook (eWOW): Paul Goodrum, University of Colorado
4. Question and answer session: Moderated by Tim Taylor, University of Kentucky

The first 60 minutes of the webinar will be for presentations and the final 30 minutes will be reserved for audience questions.
Learning Objectives

At the end of this webinar, you will able to:

1. Describe the factors that impact the staffing requirements for highway construction projects
2. Design a project and regionally agency staffing plan using the WOW
3. Recommend strategies to address specific workforce challenges encountered at your agency

Professional Development Hour Information

Professional engineers (PEs) who register and attend the entire webinar as an individual will be awarded 1.5 Professional Development Hours (PDHs). TRB’s webinar program awards PDH credits only to the registered individual, and not to other members of a group that view the webinar together. To be eligible for the credits, individuals must remain signed in for the entire webinar, including for any question and answer session following the presentations.

Pre-registration is required. Once the webinar starts, you will be unable to register. Individuals that are registered for a webinar but do not receive their confirmation emails due to their organization’s internal firewalls should contact the TRB Helpdesk for assistance in signing in.
Please check with your licensing board to ensure that TRB webinar PDHs are approved by your board.
TRB will report credits earned to the Registered Continuing Education Program (RCEP). Complaints about registered providers may be sent to RCEP, 1015 15th Street, NW, 8th Floor, Washington, D.C., 20005.

Registration questions? Contact Reggie Gillum.