Asphalt Roadway Technician Recertification

There are now two options available for recertification as an Asphalt Roadway Technician. 

1. Exam only
2. Attend full Asphalt Roadway Technician course

Exam Only Option
Individuals who pass the written exam with a score of 80% or higher will be re-certified to perform Asphalt Roadway Technician duties on SCDOT projects for a period of three years. No re-test option is available for individuals who do not pass the written exam.  If an individual does not pass the written exam, that individual must attend a full Asphalt Roadway Technician course in order to attempt certification again.

No materials may be brought into the exam other than pencils and a calculator. Cell phones must either be left outside the testing facility or surrendered to the proctor during the exam. A clean copy of the course manual will be provided to each attendee at the exam. For preparation purposes, the sections of the manual are available electronically below:

Section 1 - Responsibilities
Section 2 - Materials
Section 3 - Pavement Evaluation
Section 4 - Preparation for Paving
Section 5 - Effect of Mix Design and Plant Production
Section 6 - Placement
Section 7 - Compaction
Section 8 - Control Strips and Target Density
Section 9 - Segregation
Section 10 - Longitudinal Joints
Section 11 - SMA and OGFC
Section 12 - Preventative Maintenance Thin Lift Surface
Section 13 - Problems
Section 14 - Nuclear Gauge
Section 15 - SCDOT Standard Specification SLIDES
Section 16 - SCDOT QA Specification SLIDES

Other SCDOT Resources^(*Note)

Note: Other materials in the manual for this course are not posted here because of periodic updates by SCDOT.  Those materials include selected sections of the SCDOT Supplemental Specifications, SCDOT Test Procedures, and SCDOT Forms, and SCDOT QPLs.  The most updated versions of all of those materials may be found on the SCDOT website (www.scdot.org).

Full Course Option
Individuals who complete the two-and-a-half (2½) day course and pass the written exam with a score of 80% or higher will be re-certified to perform Asphalt Roadway Technician duties on SCDOT projects for a period of five years. If an individual does not pass the written exam but scores at least 60% or higher, one re-test attempt is allowed for an additional fee. In that individual does not pass the written exam during the re-test attempt, the individual must attend another full Asphalt Roadway Technician course in order to attempt certification again. 

Course Outline:
The course contains a general overview of material including all specification and procedural changes that may have occurred. The participants are also required to perform mathematical problems that occur while working as a roadway technician. The instructors for the course are made up of knowledgeable asphalt industry consultants, equipment manufacturers, academia, contractors and SCDOT representatives. The exam is open notes and open book.

Entry Requirements/What to Expect:

Prerequisites

• Current Asphalt Roadway Technician Certification

Frequency of Re-certification:
The certification period is three years with the exam only option and five years when taking the full course.  It is the responsibility of the individual to keep track of his/her certification expiration date. The individual is also responsible for registering for the re-certification exam or course, attending the re-certification exam or course, and passing the written exam with a score of 80% or higher.

Re-certification Date Policy (as of June 2005):
The SCDOT Technician Certification Board hereby requests that the certification expiration dates for re-certifications obtained within one year prior to the technician's original date of expiration be issued based on the original expiration date. For example, if a technician's certification expires April 2006, and that technician attends a re-certification course and passes the exam in April 2005, his/her certification will be extended five years from the original April 2006 date to April 2011. However, if that technician chooses to attend a re-certification course in March 2005 and passes the exam, the re-certification will be valid from March 2005 to March 2010 (because the technician passed the exam outside of the one-year window). If that technician does not obtain the re-certification before April 2006, then his/her certification expires on that date.