INDIANA – Orange traffic cone season is right around the corner, and that means highway and road construction companies are looking for trained workers to fill the thousands of jobs open in the industry.
But if the word “trained” makes any Hoosiers think those jobs are out of reach for them, they should think again: A free training program put together by the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) and the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation will help them qualify in just 8 weeks.
BY Roads (pronounced “bee-why”) is a training class starting Feb. 21 that will give students all the skills and certifications they need to be ready for job interviews at companies gearing up for the road construction season. Jobs in this field typically pay at least $18 an hour and include health and vacation benefits.
INDOT and the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation collaborate on BY Roads to give Hoosiers hands-on training in highway construction safety, hand and power tools, skid steer operation, construction math, communications, and more that is needed to be job-site ready, all at no cost to the students.
Students who complete BY Roads will earn three industry certifications: NCCER Core, OSHA-10, and ATSSA Flagger, plus a certificate for Skid Steer operation.
The next 8-week class will meet three nights a week starting Feb. 21 at PACE, 2555 N. Keystone Ave., Ste. 170. Visit https://bytraining.arlo.co for class schedules and to register.
At the end of the class, students will participate in a job fair with companies that are hiring.
“Our goal is to train skilled workers and laborers so they can immediately start working,” said Chris Price, president of the Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation. “This is a win for the students, who want good-paying full-time jobs; a win for the construction companies who want trained, reliable workers; and a win for Indiana, which will continue to grow and thrive economically.”
“INDOT is excited to partner with ICRF on the BY Roads training initiative. This training opportunity complements INDOT’s mission of providing a safe and innovative transportation infrastructure and will improve the quality of life of its participants by allowing them to obtain skills in the heavy highway industry that will make them attractive candidates for construction jobs” said INDOT Commissioner Joe McGuinness.
The Indiana Construction Roundtable Foundation also offers BY Construction Training, which focuses on training for commercial and residential real estate construction.
