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Auburn University will soon open a new facility that will allow people to get their commercial driver’s license for free, as well as reducing the fees associated with heavy equipment operation training.

The AU Construction Workforce and Training Research Facility will allow students to get practical behind-the-wheel training in a controlled environment.

Auburn is partnering with the Alabama Community College System Innovation Center to bring this new training facility, one of several across the state that will provide accessible and affordable technical training skills, to Lee County.

Located next to the National Center for Asphalt Technology test track off Lee Road 151, the facility will feature a paved 1.9-acre training range for CDL Class A trucks and a 2.9-acre training range for heavy equipment. The heavy equipment range will feature both paved and unpaved sections.

According to Lee County Engineer Justin Hardee, a section of the heavy equipment range will be used for specific training such as laying pipes and practicing operational safety.

“There’s so much more than just being able to run a piece of machinery,” Hardee said. “You’ve got to do it safe with other people working around you, with large heavy objects on a chain being swung by a boom that’s not going to harm someone else. That’s what this area will go towards.”

Jorge Rueda, assistant professor at Auburn University’s department of civil and environmental engineering, spoke to the Lee County Commission about the facility on June 13.

“Not many training providers have the equipment or facilities to deliver this type of training, and the training is expensive,” Rueda said. “You can go to a community college and be trained as a carpenter, that will be cheaper than being trained as an equipment operator. The operating costs of the equipment are just increasing training costs. We are trying to make training more accessible and affordable.”

In order to keep things affordable for students, grants will be provided for the first two years the facility is open, which will allow students to get their commercial driver’s license for free.

“We are going to train for free as many people as possible,” Rueda said. “The idea is to try to keep it free through grants.”

The program has received grants from Auburn University, the State Transportation Innovation Council, the Federal Highway Administration, the Alabama Department of Transportation and the Auburn University Highway Research Center.

In addition to the behind-the-wheel range training, the Alabama Community College System will also provide theoretical training and behind-the-wheel road training for CDL students. The theory part of the training can be done online and must be completed before students are allowed to get behind the wheel. The road training will come after the students learn to drive on the range.

Initial heavy equipment training programs will include bulldozer, backhoe, skid steer, front loader, asphalt paver and motor grader.

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