What do they do?
Develop plans for surface transportation projects, according to established engineering standards and state or federal construction policy. Prepare designs, specifications, or estimates for transportation facilities. Plan modifications of existing streets, highways, or freeways to improve traffic flow.
Also known as:
Engineer, Project Engineer, Rail Engineer, Roadway Designer, Roadway Engineer, State Roadway Design Engineer, Traffic Engineer, Traffic Operations Engineer, Transportation Engineer
No Data Available
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4.8%
Change
Ranks #21 in job growth rate520Job Openings
Ranks #21 in net job growth
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- Bachelor's degree (59%)
- Master's degree (26%)
- Doctorate or Professional Degree (4%)
- Some college, no degree (4%)
- Associate's degree (4%)
- High school diploma equivalent (2%)
- Less than high school diploma (1%)
Most Popular Majors that prepare Transportation Engineers
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#1
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Degrees Granted
14,501
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Female Students
3,966
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Male Students
10,535
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Median Starting Salary
$57,200
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#2
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Degrees Granted
606
-
Female Students
75
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Male Students
531
-
Median Starting Salary
$59,800
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#3
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Degrees Granted
199
-
Female Students
57
-
Male Students
142
-
Median Starting Salary
$58,700
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#4
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Degrees Granted
50
-
Female Students
12
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Male Students
38
-
Median Starting Salary
$57,200
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#5
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Degrees Granted
45
-
Female Students
12
-
Male Students
33
-
Median Starting Salary
$57,200
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People in this career often have these skills:
- Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Writing - Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Complex Problem Solving - Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Time Management - Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- 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.
- Systems Analysis - Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation - Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Coordination - Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Operations Analysis - Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
People in this career often know a lot about:
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
People in this career often have talent in:
- Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Number Facility - The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Speech Recognition - The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
People in this career often do these activities:
- Design civil structures or systems.
- Evaluate designs or specifications to ensure quality.
- Prepare technical or operational reports.
- Prepare detailed work plans.
- Confer with technical personnel to prepare designs or operational plans.
- Explain project details to the general public.
- Create graphical representations of civil structures.
- Advise others on health and safety issues.
- Estimate operational costs.
- Design environmental control systems.
- Evaluate characteristics of equipment or systems.
- Determine operational criteria or specifications.
- Schedule operational activities.
- Prepare project budgets.
- Inspect facilities or sites to determine if they meet specifications or standards.
- Evaluate technical data to determine effect on designs or plans.
- Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
- Direct equipment maintenance or repair activities.
- Test characteristics of materials or structures.
- Create models of engineering designs or methods.
- Evaluate plans or specifications to determine technological or environmental implications.
- Direct surveying activities.
- Incorporate green features into the design of structures or facilities.
- Develop software or computer applications.
This page includes data from:
Career data: O*NET 28.3 Database
by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (“USDOL/ETA”). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA
Occupation statistics: USDOL U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics
Videos: CareerOneStop, USDOL/ETA and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development
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