Career Exploration:
Discover the many career trajectories that are possible within the transportation sector. Covering the five primary disciplines of Operations, Safety, Engineering, and Planning, each of the career ladders presented offer a deep dive into the occupational opportunities, responsibilities, job competencies, and educational requirements of the surface transportation workforce over the next 10-15 years.
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Workers in bike share programs coordinate and lead the work of the Bike Share Partnership. These roles revolve around building the successes of bike share programs to date and improve the lives of all community members including minorities and low income populations.
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Careers in bridge engineering involve conducting structural analysis to ensure the strength and safety of highway structures and preparing structural design and project deployment documents (drawings, specifications, budgets, estimates, etc.)
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Computer and Information Systems (CIS) involves effectively setting and managing the overall information technology agenda for a company or organization. These professionals oversee all computer systems and network architecture, and may also be responsible for system security protocols.
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Transit and freight commercial drivers are responsible or the safe and efficient transport of passengers and goods. Drivers must safely operate transit and commercial vehicles in accordance with applicable laws and assigned schedules and routes.
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Road construction management involves oversight and completion of both heavy civil and highway/roadway projects. Occupations under this pathway include construction workers, supervisors, and managers.
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Safety data researchers and analysts ensure that Departments of Transportation and other organizations collect, manage, and share accurate data in an efficient manner to support transportation safety decision-making and resource allocation.
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A career in transportation data science involves extracting, organizing, integrating, analyzing, and communicating information obtained from a variety of transportation or supply chain data sources.
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Diesel mechanics or technicians are responsible for performing mechanical repairs and preventative maintenance on fleet vehicles and heavy equipment in transit and freight. They are fluent in the maintenance and repair of mechanical, electrical, hydraulic, and diesel systems. Diesel mechanics or technicians also complete repair or service reporting, order and inventory necessary parts, fabricate necessary parts or equipment, develop and execute service or repair processes, and provide road call or emergency service calls.
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A career in fleet management involves oversight and responsibility for vehicle and heavy equipment repair, maintenance, refueling, record keeping, procurement, and disposal. Fleet Managers collaborate and coordinate with other agency departments, divisions, and key personnel.
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A career in highway engineering involves planning roadway construction and improvement projects. Before a road structure can be designed, the Engineer must determine the exact route the road will take, how many lanes are needed, how this road interfaces with other roads, and how the flow of traffic will be maintained. Design of the roadway system involves many considerations including safety, parking, traffic calming, pedestrian and bike paths, drainage, highway signs, road markings, signal systems, roadway lighting, impact attenuators, and guide rails. The Roadway Design Engineer conducts traffic studies, participates in public meetings, writes technical reports, and conducts construction analyses.
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Human Factors engineers and researchers are focused on transportation safety and utilize human factors principles to evaluate the interaction between the human element and transportation system elements to identify systemic risk and to design safety solutions. Based on knowledge of human factors principles, they investigate, design, and implement transportation system safety solutions.
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A career in highway construction engineering involves overseeing roadway projects to completion, providing general inspection and project management, working with staff, and communicating with clients. Highway Construction Engineers regularly assist in preparing reports, plans, and specifications; research standards and code requirements, and conduct field investigations of design problems.
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A career in highway maintenance engineering starts with work experience in maintaining transportation infrastructure, like roadway pavement or bridges. Highway or State Maintenance Engineers determine cost-effective preventive maintenance treatments, upgrades, and repair strategies in order to maintain highways, bridges, and roadside facilities.
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A career as a highway maintenance superintendent involves developing project schedules and budgets, setting work priorities for maintenance operations, and supervising multiple crews tasked with highway and/or bridge maintenance, repair, and reconstruction.
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Highway maintenance safety includes oversight of roadway repair, improvement projects, winter operations, and facilities and asset management. Occupations include maintenance workers, crew leaders, technicians/engineers, and managers.
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ITS/Smart City professionals are responsible for citywide technology governance, strategic planning/policy development to advance Smart City solutions for infrastructure, energy, water, and waste management as well as transportation alternatives, building/properties, and programs that promote technology literacy and public access to government information.
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Operations planning involves managing complex projects and systems as well as conducting studies into corridor planning, traffic operations planning, multi-modal and transit-oriented projects, or freight operations planning.
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A career in pavement engineering involves designing, evaluating, and managing asphalt and concrete pavement systems; determining pavement layer thicknesses and material composition as required for different traffic loads, and reviewing data on existing pavements to assess their deterioration and remaining service life.
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Sustainability has become a vital aspect of many different fields, particularly in transportation. Careers in Sustainable Transportation involve coordinating bike/pedestrian mobility and transit mobility, and planning, implementing, and evaluating Transportation Demand Management (TDM) programs.
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A career in traffic engineering involves executing traffic signal, traffic operations, and intelligent transportation system design projects using civil engineering principles. A Traffic Engineer may work on traffic warrant and parking studies, transportation planning studies, traffic event management studies, and traffic signal and/or roadway design projects.
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A career in traffic incident management involves detecting, monitoring, and responding to various traffic management data sources and incidents to maintain safety and efficiency on local roadway systems. Traffic incident personnel analyze or assess traffic events like construction zones, special events, congestion, traffic incidents, evacuations, or traffic equipment malfunctions.
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Traffic safety engineering is the application of systemic safety principles to analyze, assess, and present safety data, and to plan, implement, and evaluate road safety programs and processes. Traffic Safety Engineers utilize multiple strategies to integrate safety data and analysis into transportation decision-making processes.
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Traffic safety planning involves integrating safety into an agency's planning documents and processes, and working in collaboration with public and private stakeholders to implement safety plans. Key focus ares include measuring and recovering safety data, systemic safety issues, contributing crash factors, and human behaviors associated with safety risk.
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A career in traffic signal/ITS technology involves the installation, maintenance, and/or repair of ITS and traffic signal systems including traffic signal cabinets, loop detection systems, and traffic signal electronics.
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Transportation operations research involves using advanced mathematical and analytical methods to analyze and solve complex problems, assess risk, and provide a data-driven approach to decision-making.
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Careers in transit engineering involve analyzing, inspecting, and/or designing transit infrastructure, stations, buildings, underground structures, elevated structures, and bridges.
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A career in transportation planning involves urban freight research to study the operation of transportation systems implemented by an organization. On a daily basis, Transportation Planners analyze and compile data to evaluate the effectiveness of implemented transportation models and simulations.
