Transportation Engineering

Many municipalities are responsible for designing and maintaining the road system within the community. Transportation engineer’s expertise with planning, funding, and design of streets assists communities with improving safety, easing congestion, pedestrian needs, and extending the usable life of the street through maintenance methods. A transportation engineer with knowledge of funding programs, multi modal needs, and maintenance treatments can assist a community with planning, design, and construction to maximize available funding dollars.

County road commissions maintain many miles of roads and maximize the available funding to maintain the road system. A focus on maintenance treatments applied at the right time extend the useful life of the road is important. A road commission also maintains numerous bridge and culvert structures. Transportation engineers help road commissions with the design and construction of road and bridge improvement projects.

The state’s focus is on higher volume highway facilities encompassing both urban and rural areas. State agencies have a mix of highway and bridge projects, and need transportation assistance to deliver a larger, state and federally funded road system. Transportation engineers assist the agency with design needs, including construction of the road and highway facilities in accordance with state and federal standards.

Private developers and communities utilize traffic engineers to assist with the planning and design of transportation facilities for existing and new developments, corridor planning, and signalization. Traffic engineers model road facilities to enhance operation, ease congestion, and analyze impacts of development on a road system.