1200 New Jersey Ave., SE
Washington, D.C. 20590
August 2, 2018
In Reply Refer to: HIN-CLS
Dear Tribal Leaders,
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) invites you to two listening sessions for the Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP) pilot. The first one will take place Thursday, August 23, 2018 at 3:00 pm ET and the second on September 27, 2018. The August listening session will be on-line and the September listening session will be held at the National Tribal Transportation Conference in Oklahoma City. At the listening sessions, a brief update on the current implementation of the pilot will be provided before engaging in dialogue and discussion. The listening sessions provide a forum to hear from tribes on their current experience using the TTAP services. Additional listening sessions will be scheduled between September 2018 and May 2019 as part of the evaluation process for the two-year pilot.
To join the August 23rd listening session by computer, please go to https://connectdot.connectsolutions.com/clas/. A phone line will also be available to participate in the session. The call-in number is 1- 866-434-5269 and the access code is 1171779. Details on the call will also be available on the Center for Local Aid Supports' website at https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovativeprograms/centers/local_aid/ttap/
The 21st Annual National Tribal Transportation Conference (NTTC), a conference historically held in conjunction with the TTAP, will be held September 24-27, 2018 in Oklahoma City, OK. We are aware that there is some confusion between the NTTC and a distinctly different tribal conference, the National Transportation in Indian Country Conference, that is being hosted by the Center for Tribal Transportation. This confusion is being amplified when people search for NTTC and are misdirected to the other conference. To resolve this issue, FHWA sent the attached letter to the Center for Tribal Transportation.
This year's NTTC will provide plenty of educational punch in its program. The program begins on Monday morning with tours of the new Road Scholar facility and a ground blessing at 10 a.m. Monday afternoon presents two workshop options: Innovative Financing or Data Mining to Support Your Road Safety Plan. Monday afternoon also provides a technical assistance open house, where there will be multiple technical service stations where you can ask questions, share information, talk with subject matter experts one-on-one, and learn more about TTAP training. Tuesday morning's plenary session will feature keynotes and program briefings from the US. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Tuesday afternoon through Thursday morning is dedicated to education sessions that will explore safety, finance, unpaved roads, transit, grant opportunities and more. The conference concludes on Thursday at noon with a listening session on the TTAP pilot prior to closing. Once you register, you can sign your tribe up for a one-on-one discussion with either FHWA or BIA Tribal Transportation Program (TTP) staff.
In FHWA's ongoing efforts to provide the most complete and broadest portfolio of training to the tribes, we hope that you have heard that FHWA worked collaboratively with the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) to sponsor access to the AASHTO TC3 library of on-line training for local and tribal transportation professionals. These 120 training modules in construction, maintenance and materials along with the TTAP training curriculum will give your technical workforce access to the knowledge and skills they need.
Tribal staff will need an AASHTO account to access the FHWA sponsored online training courses. If they have not previously registered for an AASHTO account, please have them go to https://register.transportation.org, select Register, and then enter their email address to create an AASHTO account. Please ask them to use their agency email address to register. If they need more information on how to create an account and checkout a course, AASHTO has them covered. They have a great YouTube video that walks through the process at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcFONY2R78s. Once their AASHTO account is complete, local agencies and tribes will have unlimited access to the curriculum using the Promotion Code: D5X3-B3D9-52CB-4XCX. If you have additional questions on these resources, please contact us at CLAS@dot.gov.
FHWA is actively working to find and implement efficient and effective ways to get training, resources, materials and information to tribal customers. FHWA's agreement with AASHTO is just one more tool FHWA is pursuing to build tribal workforce capacity; we hope it is one of many new resources for the tribal program.
Sincerely,
Victoria Peters
Director, Center for Local-Aid Support
Bill Grants Federal Requirements Seminar 
An introductory webinar to assist local and tribal agencies with applying for transportation funding under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL).
