IBTTA Members to Build Bridges at 2016 Rhode Island Community Service Project

IBTTA members will be building bridges, literally and figuratively, during the community service project attached to IBTTA’s 2016 Maintenance and Roadway Operations Workshop, May 15-17, 2016 in Newport, Rhode Island.

On Sunday, May 15, the day before the formal conference gets under way, volunteers will converge on Fort Adams, a distinctive state park in Newport named for U.S. President John Adams. They’ll spend the day building footbridges and staircases, renovating doors, planting shrubs, and clearing debris.

The community service project is an annual tradition at IBTTA’s Maintenance and Roadway Operations Workshop. It really hit high gear in Oklahoma City last year, with a wildly popular and successful day at the White Fields, a home for abused and neglected boys.

While maintenance and road operations professionals use their skills every day to maintain and provide safe roads and bridges for the driving public, this project will benefit members of the community in a different way. Even if those bridges are smaller, lighter, and a whole lot less complex than the construction and maintenance projects back home.

And there’s another aspect to the bridge-building for the day: the personal connections participants get to make with each other, and with the host community for the conference. This year, we’ll be working alongside volunteers from the local Boys and Girls Club, that serves the youth of Newport County, especially the underserved in Newport and the James L. Maher Center, a group that works to integrate individuals with developmental challenges into the work force.

Fort Adams is in good condition and used for a variety of purposes that serve the community, but some parts have been kept from public access for over 60 years due to deteriorating conditions. This includes the Castle Fort, or Southern Redoubt, presently in a sad state of ruin, in need of extensive funding and rehabilitative work and attention in order to make it accessible to the public.

Our volunteer efforts are aimed at making the Castle Fort accessible for the enjoyment of the public, but also to serve a greater good. With the grand opening of the Castle Fort, stable and ongoing employment opportunities necessary for maintaining the Fort and conducting tours will be created. With these opportunities, the Fort will proudly be able to provide jobs to those with developmental challenges.

Put your bridge-building and people skills to good use! Register today for IBTTA’s 2016 Maintenance and Roadway Operations Workshop, May 15-17, 2016 in Newport, Rhode Island, and be sure to sign up for our community service project.