State leaders and TCAT leadership gathered Monday to celebrate the completion of the new Truck Driving and Diesel Technology buildings in Crossville and Livingston.
Both buildings took over a year to complete. TCAT Upper Cumberland President Cliff Wightman highlighted the program’s success, noting the 100 percent placement rate after graduation, with drivers earning above-average salaries for the area.
“We see that in six figures, easy,” Wightman said. “Powerline [Trucking Company], also on the apprenticeships…those, most of those students leave the campus $25, $30 an hour with local utilities, and if they’re going on travelling crews, sometimes it’s quite a bit more than that.”
Senator Paul Bailey said the new facilities made possible thanks to a $1.5 billion investment TCAT received from the state legislature.
“Our area has seen a windfall of that money coming in with the upgrades of our TCAT systems, because, again, we’re in a rural area,” Bailey said. “Yes, we’ve got great colleges, great universities, right here at our back door, but to have these TCAT systems providing an education for all the various trade work that we need to have done is just so invaluable.”
As a fourth-generation truck driver, Bailey stressed the need for new drivers. Bailey said 17,000 truck drivers had been taken off the road due to their legal status.
“That is really going to end up straining our system,” Bailey said. “That’s going to be a tough, tough hole to fill. And, it’s always good to be able to have training facilities where we can bring in more individuals and be able to get them interested in being a truck driver.”
The TCAT Truck Driving and Diesel program is a continuously running program, meaning it has an open-enrollment policy. Financial aid is available for those needing assistance with tuition.