 We're real busy right now as usual. The amount of work we do used to really get to me. I was getting farther behind all the time. I'm sure you know what I mean. Then I discovered the Rural Technical Assistance Program. Our county executive gave me the number of the Technology Transfer Center nearest to us. I made the call, it reduced my workload and has changed my life for the better. It'll do the same for you. With most of the United States, the Rural Technical Assistance Program is a call away. Technology Transfer, or T-square centers located nationwide, provide an interlocking network of support for people or agencies who are involved with local roads, bridges, and public transportation programs. Along with the Federal Highway Administration, State Transportation Departments, and selected universities, RTAP's T-square centers help you work smarter by providing sound advice and information through workshops, printed materials, videotapes, hands-on training, and referrals. Helping you get more for less is what the program's all about. Sometimes I feel like they expect me to do it all by myself. The researching costs are just so tremendous. We just keep working with this mess. Every time we get to the end of it, we have to come back and do it all over again. I feel like I'm just spinning my wheels. I just can't keep my roads together. Can't keep my road together, can't keep up potholes, down equipment, wreck schedules. They should know that there is a better way that help is available. Working smarter is the name of the game. To get ahead, you need to be able to step back and look at the bigger picture. The trick is to find the real problems that are causing your headaches. Those potholes that local residents endlessly complain about is the problem that you're continuously patching them, or is the real problem poor drainage, which is prematurely deteriorating your road surface. And that greater of yours that seems to spend more time in the shop than on the job, that problem could be solved with a regular program of preventive maintenance. Finding the real sources of your problems may require a little more effort up front, but in the long run it will save you time and money, not to mention a lot of sleepless nights. This is where the RTAP T-square network can help. For little or no cost, you can be receiving the kind of technical and practical assistance you need to get ahead. The program can help you get more for less. More information, newsletters, technical libraries, industry reports, and training guides. More guidance and assistance on how to work smarter, not harder. Workshop, seminars, training sessions, video libraries, and computer programs. And more interaction with others who share similar problems and solutions. Trade conferences, telephone help lines, and member directories. RTAP is a partnership involving the Federal Highway Administration, State Transportation Departments, and selected universities. As a result of this strong association, a diverse collection of experience and knowledge is at your disposal. When you work with the program, you're part of a partnership that stretches from Bangor to Bakersfield. Listen to what these individuals have to say about their connections to RTAP. I didn't know anything about the Center. I have to confess. And I called the Center, got some advice, good advice. And until that time, I didn't know what we were missing. There was a lot of material there, a lot of ideas there, a lot of expertise there that we had just overlooked. As a result of a workshop that the Center has sponsored, dealing with work zone safety and traffic safety, we have begun to do more signing than we used to do for our construction sites. And so we are aware of proper signing and proper barricading. And as a result of this workshop, we've been able to do a better job, I feel, in signing and providing a safer area for the traffic to go through and a safer area for our employees to work in. It's an avenue for references. I've gone to them to get videotapes on training for, say, greater operation. And for bridge-end drainage installation. It's a good place to turn to, and they've got the information there. If they don't, they can dig it up for you, and they seem very glad to do it. We're trying to implement computers into our operation for record keeping in our pavement management program. And evidently, there's been some other local governments interested in this very same thing, because now there is a workshop planned later this spring to address a very issue. Each of these individuals were faced with unique problems. And as you heard, the program has helped them with practical methods of assistance. New equipment information can increase your productivity, reduce your workload, and improve safety. For example, this manhole cover remover was developed by an employee in the Des Moines Public Works Department. The tool replaces the old crowbar method, so it eliminates strain backs and hand injuries. After this ingenious invention was publicized in Iowa's RTAP newsletter, the story was shared with other T-square centers across the country. This ditcher is another example. After two years of use, the county discovered the equipment had more than paid for itself. Clean ditches mean good drainage. With this machine and weather like this here in March, we're able to go ahead with our ditching, just as if it were July and August. This machine has allowed us to cut back the personnel requirements for ditching from approximately six to seven people to two. We were able to reassign the employees that at one time would have been used for ditching to other type work, and also the only equipment involved is the machine itself plus one pickup, whereas before we were using as many as six and seven pieces of equipment. RTAP's assistance also comes in the form of transportation highlights. People learn about new techniques and technologies that will help save you money, such as the Oklahoma Bridge and timber bridges. The Oklahoma Bridge involves a technique for replacing short bridges. T-square centers share information about a technique developed by Oklahoma State University, which involved pre-casting 25-foot concrete beams right in the county yard. I learned about the Oklahoma Bridge in my T-square newsletter. It's a great idea. In the winter months, we keep our maintenance workers busy by having them precast the beams. Then come spring, we're ready to place them. It's easy to do and it's cheap. More agencies are looking into the advantages of timber bridges these days too, thanks to news spread through the RTAP network. We've used timber on several decks in bridge replacements in our county, and so I checked with the center, asked them if they knew of anybody else in the state that was going that I might get together with and go with to attend this conference, and come to find out I was the only one from our state that was going, so they were very interested in the conference as well, so they offered to sponsor me and to pay my expenses to attend that workshop, and as a result I was able to go and gain a lot of information about the use of timber in bridge construction and then was able to come back and write an article concerning this conference and they ran it in their newsletter so that it was shared throughout the state with all those that may be interested in using timber in their bridge construction. I have gone from the wooden bridge floor decking to metal decking and have not been at all satisfied. I've had problems and I've relayed that to other engineers through the technology program, Dwayne Campbell, me with him a whole lot and his county, he's actually going to timber decking and I'm thinking about going back to it. It seems like an old method, but it's proved more satisfactory to me than the newer methods. Information gained through other RTAP centers can help you improve all aspects of your operation. The New Mexico Center's Preventive Maintenance Program, for instance, has been put into practice by hundreds of local agencies across the country. The program stresses the importance of preventive maintenance checks and teaches you how to identify minor problems before they become major ones. In cooperation with RTAP, New Mexico has shared its program with T-square centers nationwide so others could benefit from reduced downtime and expensive equipment repairs. T-square centers offer classes, seminars, demonstrations, technical publications and on-site problem-solving sessions to help you improve your efficiency as well. Instruction you probably could not afford to obtain if you had to arrange it on your own. Developed and coordinated by your T-square center, the information presented is done so with an emphasis on needs specific to your region. The benefits of working with the program are numerous. Topping the list is the organized, step-by-step approach to problem-solving. Furthermore, RTAP is convenient. T-square centers are easy to contact. Assistance is available year-round with just a phone call. The RTAP T-square Network, get with the program.