Highway Construction Workforce Partnership Post-Mortem

10 pages•Published: June 2, 2026

Steven Schultz, Charles Gurganus and Rick Davenport

Abstract

The Highway Construction Workforce Partnership (HCWP) was launched in 2023 through collaboration between the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), Blinn College District, and the Texas Asphalt Pavement Association (TXAPA). Designed to address skilled labor shortages in Texas’s heavy highway industry, the program provided short-term training and certification to low-income and non-college-bound participants, funded through partner scholarships. Despite early success and strong industry support from firms such as Knife River and Big Creek Construction, the program faced declining employment outcomes with only about 20 percent of graduates securing long-term positions in the industry. This post-mortem analysis examines the program’s structure, cohort data, recruitment challenges, and industry engagement to understand barriers to workforce entry and retention. Findings reveal that cultural mismatches, limited job availability, and inconsistent employer participation hindered program success. Lessons learned provide actionable recommendations for future workforce initiatives seeking to align training design, participant selection, and employer demand in the heavy civil sector.

Keyphrases: asphalt paving, heavy civil industry, highway construction, labor shortage, texas department of transportation, training programs, workforce development

In: Wesley Collins, Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico (editors). Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference, vol 7, pages 338-347.

Links:	https://easychair.org/publications/paper/PQmS
	https://doi.org/10.29007/5p8j

BibTeX entry

@inproceedings{ASC2026:Highway_Construction_Workforce_Partnership,
  author    = {Steven Schultz and Charles Gurganus and Rick Davenport},
  title     = {Highway Construction Workforce Partnership Post-Mortem},
  booktitle = {Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference},
  editor    = {Wesley Collins and Anthony Perrenoud and John Posillico},
  series    = {EPiC Series in Built Environment},
  volume    = {7},
  publisher = {EasyChair},
  bibsource = {EasyChair, https://easychair.org},
  issn      = {2632-881X},
  url       = {/publications/paper/PQmS},
  doi       = {10.29007/5p8j},
  pages     = {338-347},
  year      = {2026}}

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