Affiliate Programs

The mission of Affiliate Programs is to promote technology and information sharing throughout the local, national, and international surface transportation community. Our team works to enhance existing relationships as well as develop new partnerships to help create a continuous environment of information sharing among transportation professionals.

The largest efforts within Affiliate Programs are the Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) and its Native American counterpart, the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP).  Through targeted training, information, and outreach to agencies and other FHWA partners that build and maintain America's local highway system, the LTAP/TTAP works at the local agency level transfer valuable skills and knowledge to improve the safety and quality of local, rural and tribal roads.

Additionally, Affiliate Programs is responsible for managing partnerships and memberships within the community on behalf of FHWA. In coordination with the FHWA Office of International Programs, the team coordinates efforts to support the latest in training, roadway design, and safety throughout the international community.

• LTAP/TTAP: What is the LTAP/TTAP? How does the program work? Find out here.
• International Program: Learn about the International Program and its current efforts and initiatives.
• Partnerships Find out more about FHWA partnerships with other transportation-related organizations.
  
  

LTAP/TTAP

Comprising 58 local technology transfer centers – one in each State and Puerto Rico, and seven regional centers serving tribal governments – the mission of the Local and Tribal Technical Assistance Programs is to foster a safe, efficient, and environmentally sound surface transportation system by improving skills and increasing knowledge of the transportation workforce and decision makers.  With a focus on four key areas:  Safety, Infrastructure Management, Workforce Development, and Organizational Excellence,  LTAP/TTAP Centers improve the quality and safety of local roadways through training, technology transfer and information exchange activities.

The national program is designed to provide the 58 Centers the flexibility to tailor programs to provide training, technical assistance and educational resources that meet the varied needs of the local transportation workforce.  LTAP/TTAP services a customer base of over 38,000 cities, counties, townships, villages and tribal governments across the United States that build and maintain 3,000,000 miles of streets and roads, and nearly 300,000 bridges.  Program operations are guided and measured by an LTAP/TTAP Strategic Plan that focuses the national program on efforts that impact safety and workforce development, while measuring the ability of the program to effectively manage Center operations and deliver value.  Last year, LTAP/TTAP provided nearly 5,300 training courses for the local transportation community; those courses were attended by over 135,000 local roads workers augmenting their skills and improving their on-the-job knowledge in a total of nearly 1,000,000 participant contact hours of classroom time.

The success of the program derives from collaboration with local, tribal, state and Federal partners.  Centers look to share the best solutions and transfer the latest knowledge among local governments in addition to their role as a direct provider of critical education and training programs for these agencies and their private-sector partners.  Leveraging their close relationships with people at the local, regional and national levels, LTAP/TTAP Centers are able to efficiently transfer innovative technologies and best practices throughout the transportation community.

Around two-thirds of LTAP/TTAP Centers are located at universities, while one-third are located within State highway agencies.  The Program is federally funded by FHWA and requires a matching fund obligation from the states, universities and/or tribal governments.  FHWA also administers an LTAP/TTAP Clearinghouse that provides support to Centers by facilitating the exchange of information among FHWA, the States and universities, Centers and other program stakeholders.  The Clearinghouse is operated under contract to FHWA by the American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).  For more information, please review the Clearinghouse website at www.ltapt2.org.

Understanding LTAP/TTAP

LTAP/TTAP is driven by relationships. The essential driving force of the LTAP/TTAP is collaboration with our local, tribal, State, and Federal partners. In some ways, the program functions as a partnership, looking to share the best solutions and transfer knowledge. In others, the LTAP/TTAP is a leader in the implementation of education and training programs and processes.

LTAP/TTAP centers are able to capitalize on their local, regional, and national relationships to efficiently transfer innovative technologies and best practices throughout the transportation community. This critical information-sharing function includes the key stakeholders among the various local, tribal, State, and Federal transportation entities.

LTAP/TTAP is an agent for change among surface transportation community partners. The vision and mission of the LTAP/TTAP program reflects the central, overriding importance of collaboration and information sharing.

International Program

The International Program supports the FHWA Office of International Programs (OIP) through the coordination of international training and professional development activities. These efforts inform the U.S. transportation community of technological and innovative programs abroad, strengthen U.S. transportation expertise internally, and increase technology sharing between the United States and the international community.

The International Program also assists OIP in establishing and maintaining international relationships for transportation technology sharing. Program activities include efforts to improve training and instructor development in cooperation with technology transfer centers in other countries.  Our team has supported a number of important efforts and initiatives in this area, including:

• Conducting Pavement Engineering Management programs for classes of 20 South Korean engineers.
• Facilitating Winter Maintenance field training for 12 Argentina professionals.
• Enrolling four Kuwait engineers in the six week Highway Materials Engineering course at the University of Nevada.
• Facilitating a two day safety training course in Kuwait for 35 engineers/technicians.

Partnerships

FHWA works closely with national associations and organizations throughout the transportation community. The Affiliate Programs team works to ensure that professional development is a priority in these partnering efforts, and that FHWA responsibilities under each agreement are met.  In addition, we assist other FHWA Program Offices with their professional development activities in support of the overarching goal of strengthening community relationships for the agency.

Partnership Examples

Partnering Agreement Between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Association of County Engineers (NACE)

Partnering Agreement Between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the American Public Works Association (APWA)

Partnering Agreement Between the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET)