Will AI replace Transportation Engineers?
AI reaches a large part of this job’s work.
49/100
High exposure
More exposed to AI than 78% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 5% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 76% of the work
What the job involves
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.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Already happening(2)
- Evaluate construction project materials for compliance with environmental standards.
- Investigate or test specific construction project materials to determine compliance to specifications or standards.
Within reach(18)
- 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.
- Plan alteration or modification of existing transportation structures to improve safety or function.
- Present data, maps, or other information at construction-related public hearings or meetings.
- Prepare administrative, technical, or statistical reports on traffic-operation matters, such as accidents, safety measures, or pedestrian volume or practices.
and 13 more
Out of reach(6)
- Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules.
- Inspect completed transportation projects to ensure safety or compliance with applicable standards or regulations.
- Participate in contract bidding, negotiation, or administration.
- Supervise the maintenance or repair of transportation systems or system components.
- Inspect completed transportation projects to ensure compliance with environmental regulations.
and 1 more
Also called
Transportation Engineer · Engineer · Project Engineer · Roadway Engineer · Traffic Engineer · Highway Engineer · Rail Engineer · Roadway Designer
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics