New motor grader workshop rivals gravel maintenance in popularity
The T2/LTAP Program added a new workshop this year--Motor Grader Operator Training. This year's response indicates it will be as popular as the existing LTAP Gravel Road Maintenance and Design Workshop. While the objective of both workshops is to provide information and tools that will lead to improved gravel road surfaces, each workshop provides a different focus in order to meet a broader range of needs.
Gravel Road Maintenance and Design
Gravel Road Maintenance and Design is a one-day class that provides a brief refresher on basic techniques for blading gravel roads and spends a majority of the day discussing ways to improve gravel roads short of complete reconstruction. Discussion topics include: what makes good gravel and how to obtain it, dust control benefits and practices, improving problem areas by improving drainage, repairing frostboils, use of fabric, and developing an ongoing road improvement plan.
The workshop should be of interest to first-line supervisors responsible for gravel road maintenance as well as maintenance personnel and equipment operators. It is particularly suited for someone who is interested in the planning and execution of an organized process to improve the condition of gravel roads.
Four classes were presented in North Mankato, St. Cloud, Detroit Lakes, and Virginia during the last week of March and the first week of April this year. A total of 261 participants attended. Ottertail County Engineer Rick West was the instructor. Participants consisted primarily of supervisors and operators from counties and townships, with a few participants from growing cities with rural areas containing gravel roads. Because the class is so popular, it was not possible to honor all registration requests with only four classes.
Motor Grader Operator Training
The new class focused on motor grader operation including hands-on training with a motor grader. This class is intended for equipment operators who are responsible for maintaining gravel roads and are interested in improving their motor grader operating skills.
CTS has recognized interest in this type of course from comments received from past attendees of the Gravel Road Maintenance and Design workshop. However, the response of the county engineers when this workshop was described to them at their annual conference in January was overwhelming. They signed-up more of their operators than could be handled by the planned four-week training schedule. This schedule was expanded to six weeks before the training started, and nine weeks were ultimately provided, including one week of makeup classes necessitated by wet road conditions.
Because the scheduling and logistics of this type of training are much more complex than for a normal one- or two-day class, and because of the strong interest expressed by the county engineers, it was decided to limit the training to counties as a pilot program in 2001. Based on what was learned this year, it has been proposed that the program be offered to all local governments in future years.
This year the program consisted of grouping interested counties into weekly training blocs. Mondays were classroom training for about 20 operators from nearby counties. The remaining four days were spent doing hands-on training at four locations where four to six operators were able to practice motor grader operating techniques on a gravel road under the direction of the instructor.
The instructor was Bruce Higgins, a retired motor grader operator from Genesee County, Mich. Higgins has been offering this class for the past several years through the Michigan LTAP program. This year he also provided training in Florida and Wisconsin before coming to Minnesota to provide our first Motor Grader Operator Training workshop in April.
While the classroom portion of this workshop provides some limited discussion of good gravel, dust control, drainage, repair of frostboils, and use of fabrics, most of the day is spent discussing motor grader blading techniques, safe operation, and equipment maintenance. The hands-on training consists of each operator taking turns practicing various techniques and observing the work of the others.
The training was conducted over a nine-week period beginning April 23; the final day was June 22. This included a week for makeup training caused by road conditions too wet for the hands-on training involving several counties. Polk and Marshall counties will finish in August due to further rain delays. A total of 149 operators from 43 counties participated in this year's pilot program. Participants ranged from beginning operators with no grader experience to operators with 20 years of experience. The classroom instruction is informal and involves a great deal of group discussion so experienced operators can share their knowledge as well.
The class evaluations received from those attending indicated that the class was well received and met a real need. Plans are being made to continue this program in the coming years. Based on this year's pilot program, several areas were identified where changes can make the program more effective. These include limiting the "hands-on" training to no more than four operators per day so each can get enough machine time; providing the classroom/hands-on as a two-week block--resulting in larger classes but smaller hands-on groups; and including interested townships and cities with counties, which will make for closer groupings and minimize travel for both the participants and the instructor.
Later this year, CTS will be seeking expressions of interest from counties, cities, and townships so that preliminary planning for next year's Motor Grader Operator Training workshop can begin.
—Pat Murphy, T2 support engineer