Transportation Engineering : Job Prospects & Career Options

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Massive urbanization occurring globally has increased the demand for transportation engineers, creating numerous job possibilities for them in industrialized nations as well as major metropolitan areas. Transportation engineers are required to design bridges, multi-level roads, airports, railroads that are strong enough to safely transport goods and people.

Transportation engineers have multiple career path open to them. Many transportation engineers work for private consulting firms or government agencies. Transportation firms and companies that manufacturer airplanes, boats and trains, employ transport engineers who are responsible for developing new types of vehicles and transportation systems. Some experienced transport engineers are self-employed or work alongside other engineers in small firms or partnerships. They develop new technologies and sell them to transportation firms or manufacturers. While some work as instructors or researchers at universities or colleges.

With experience and ability transportation engineers can advance to a number of positions, such as construction supervisor, project engineer, or designer of transportation systems. In addition, they may become supervisors of engineering departments, chief engineers for construction firms, or consulting engineers.

Various transportation engineering careers are that of:

Highway engineering
Highway engineers handle the planning, design, construction and operation of highways, roads, and other vehicular facilities as well as their related bicycle and pedestrian realms. Analyzing traffic patterns, budgeting, safety evaluation and the use of urban planning design controls are key duties associated with highway engineering.

Railroad engineering
Railroad engineers, sometimes called locomotive engineers, most commonly work on redesigning the country's existing railroads so that they are safer and more efficient, rather than planning new railways. They can work as designers of railways or as operators and dispatchers. Typical tasks would include determining horizontal and vertical alignment design, station location and design, and construction cost estimating.

Port and harbor engineering
Port engineers, also known as harbor engineers, design commercial waterways similar to the way that highway engineers design roadways. They mainly handle the design, construction, and operation of ports, harbors, canals, and other maritime facilities.

Airport engineering
Airport engineers are responsible for the design and building of airports, hangars and airfields. These engineers must use the analysis of predominant wind direction to determine runway orientation, determine the size of runway border and safety areas, different wing tip to wing tip clearances for all gates and must designate the clear zones in the entire port.