Transportation Engineer

Overview and Key Facts

What Do They Do?

A transportation engineer could...

Overview Listen to this section

Have you ever visited family members for the holidays? You might have started your trip by taking the subway or a train to the airport. Then you jumped on a plane and flew to your destination. Finally, a family member picked you up in his or her car and drove you home. You traveled hundreds of miles in just one day. How did this happen? Who planned the subway route to the airport? Who decided the position of the airport runway? Who designed the highways and roadways? The answer to all of these questions is the transportation engineer. The goal of the transportation engineer is to move people and goods safely and efficiently.

Do You Have the Skills and Characteristics of a Transportation Engineer?

1. Writing: ? Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
2. Speaking: ? Talking to others to convey information effectively.
3. Reading Comprehension: ? Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
4. Critical Thinking: ? Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
5. Judgment and Decision Making: ? Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

6. Complex Problem Solving: ? Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
7. Time Management: ? Managing one's own time and the time of others.
8. Mathematics: ? Using mathematics to solve problems.
9. Systems Analysis: ? Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
10. Active Listening: ? Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

Core Tasks

Think about if you'd like the typical tasks a Transportation Engineer might do:

• Design or prepare plans for new transportation systems or parts of systems, such as airports, commuter trains, highways, streets, bridges, drainage structures, or roadway lighting.
• Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices.
• Prepare administrative, technical, or statistical reports on traffic-operation matters, such as accidents, safety measures, or pedestrian volume or practices.
• Plan alteration or modification of existing transportation structures to improve safety or function.
• Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules.
• Present data, maps, or other information at construction-related public hearings or meetings.
• Prepare final project layout drawings that include details such as stress calculations.
• Estimate transportation project costs.
• Investigate traffic problems and recommend methods to improve traffic flow or safety.
• Design or engineer drainage, erosion, or sedimentation control systems for transportation projects.
• Evaluate traffic control devices or lighting systems to determine need for modification or expansion.
• Prepare project budgets, schedules, or specifications for labor or materials.
• Inspect completed transportation projects to ensure safety or compliance with applicable standards or regulations.
• Review development plans to determine potential traffic impact.
• Evaluate transportation systems or traffic control devices or lighting systems to determine need for modification or expansion.
• Analyze environmental impact statements for transportation projects.
• Supervise the maintenance or repair of transportation systems or system components.
• Model transportation scenarios to evaluate the impacts of activities such as new development or to identify possible solutions to transportation problems.
• Inspect completed transportation projects to ensure compliance with environmental regulations.
• Participate in contract bidding, negotiation, or administration.
• Evaluate construction project materials for compliance with environmental standards.
• Direct the surveying, staking, or laying-out of construction projects.
• Design transportation systems or structures with sustainable materials or products, such as porous pavement or bioretention structures.