COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The Maintenance Leadership Academy (MLA) provides an intensive training program to individuals who hold positions as State, district, and county maintenance supervisors, superintendents, and managers. The MLA is an investment in an employee's role as a leader and mentor that helps agencies become more efficient and innovative. The MLA decreases the time it takes to acclimate new managers, improves decision-making, and supports workforce development.

Participants acquire an understanding of the various processes, methods, and materials that are applied to maintain and preserve their organization's bridge and highway systems. Participants develop a knowledge base of planning, scheduling, quality control, customer focus, program presentation, asset management, pavement and bridge preservation, contract management, and performance improvement. See sample outcomes below for each of the six modules that comprise the MLA.

The MLA curriculum consists of self-paced lessons accessed via the Web, as well as instructor-led classroom sessions. Self-paced lessons are completed prior to attending each of the two classroom sessions. Upon enrolling for the MLA, participants attend a 1-hour Orientation Web-conference that provides an overview of the Academy's schedule and information on how to access the self-paced lessons.

An example of the structure of the MLA, which ideally allows 12 weeks from the date of the Orientation Web-conference through final day of instructor-led training:

- Enroll and attend a 1-hour Orientation Web-conference

- Complete 22 hours of independent study materials (paper-based and Web-based)

- Attend 8 days of instructor-led, classroom training

- Complete 10.5 hours of independent study material and attend a 1-hour homework review Web-conference

- Attend the final 4 days of instructor-led, classroom training

NOTE: Interested hosts should submit their course requests at least four months in advance of the desired start date. Contact NHI with any questions about the MLA course structure.

OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

• Describe the use of maintenance administration in achieving highway agency goals. (Module A)
• Describe how various preservation treatments fit into an overall system preservation program and when to implement them. (Module B)
• Identify appropriate drainage maintenance and roadside management techniques. (Module C)
• Describe how environmental protection issues, regulations and control measures affect highway maintenance activities. (Module D)
• Describe the maintenance manager's roles and responsibilities for developing, implementing, and managing a comprehensive plan for dealing with weather-related events. (Module E)
• Explain the maintenance and use of traffic control devices (including work zone plans, work zone traffic control devices, signs, striping, guardrails, and median barriers) in maintenance operations. (Module F)

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This course was designed for State, regional, or county personnel who manage highway maintenance programs and deal with oversight and quality assurance over broader geographic areas. They are involved with handling materials, scheduling, budgeting and planning. Participants have an advanced skill in maintenance activities. Participants enrolling in the Academy will need to have taken NHI-134064 "Transportation Construction Quality Assurance" and NHI-131110 "Pavement Preservation Treatment Construction" or had equivalent training or experience in these content areas.

If you have questions about this NHI training, please contact NHI at nhicustomerservice@dot.gov or 877.558.6873.