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Highway design engineer skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Bryant Harrison,

Bryant Harrison

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical highway design engineer skills. We ranked the top skills for highway design engineers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 16.8% of highway design engineer resumes contained autocad as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a highway design engineer needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 highway design engineer skills for your resume and career

1. Autocad

Here's how highway design engineers use autocad:

Prepare several different aspects of plans for PennDOT construction projects using AutoCAD or AutoCAD Civil 3D along with engineering knowledge.
Completed AutoCAD structural designs for project estimation and bidding.

2. Highway Design

Highway design is an engineering field that branches from civil engineering. It includes design, planning, operation, construction, and maintenance of roads, tunnels, and bridges to ensure prudent and efficient transportation of goods and people. The linear design of a highway revolves around the dimensions and layout of visible features of the highway such as vertical and horizontal alignments along with sight distances and intersections.

Here's how highway design engineers use highway design:

Job duties included all aspects of the Highway Design process.
Performed highway design calculations for larger, rural highway projects Responsible for drainage design calculations

3. Engineering Design

Engineering design is defined as the method that engineers use to recognize and solve problems. It is an extensive and flexible approach to problem-solving and provides the necessary information needed regarding every step of the process. An engineering design is a collaborative effort of the team to identify problems underlying a process and find out ways to solve them.

Here's how highway design engineers use engineering design:

Worked on advanced engineering design/analysis methods using Pro/E and its Behavior Modeling Extension as well as FEA to achieve quality/efficiency improvements.
Participated in weekly conference meeting with customer throughout product development, engineering design and reviews, built and evaluated prototypes.

4. Roadway Design

Roadway design is the process of designing a road. Though the process may sound simple, roadway designers develop 2D and 3D renderings of the roadway to be constructed in addition to offering material recommendations, detailing the construction site, and outlining a general agenda for construction. This design must also abide by any federal and state roadway regulations.

Here's how highway design engineers use roadway design:

Involved in all aspects of roadway design projects, including right of way plan preparation and line and grade analysis.
Assisted project managers in all phases of roadway design projects from concept through construction.

5. CAD

Here's how highway design engineers use cad:

Performed duties including property and deed research, along with CAD drawing.
Utilized design software such as CAD and XCEAL.

6. Construction Cost Estimates

Here's how highway design engineers use construction cost estimates:

Provided bid documents preparation such as specifications and construction cost estimates.
Generate Quantity take-offs and prepare Construction Cost Estimates.

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7. Design Standards

Here's how highway design engineers use design standards:

Developed highway construction plans in accordance with design standards set forth by the state of Missouri.

8. Highway Projects

Here's how highway design engineers use highway projects:

Directed the drainage design of a MDDOT highway project in Columbus while work was performed by technicians in Baltimore.
Involve in designing large and complex highway project plans and worked on smaller scale as well.

9. Traffic Control

Traffic control helps in the supervision of the movement of vehicles, goods, and people for safety and efficiency.

Here's how highway design engineers use traffic control:

Designed traffic control plans that ensured the safe passage of motorists through construction zones.
Prepared Traffic Control and Staging Plans for submission to NJDOT for approval.

10. Aided Design

Here's how highway design engineers use aided design:

Provided technical assistance in use of personal computer based computer- aided design system.
Developed innovations in surveying and computer aided design and integration of the technologies.

11. Interchange

Here's how highway design engineers use interchange:

Prepared detailed alignment design drawings including grade separated interchange designs and computed quantities.
Design Reviewer for interchange design (plan, profile and gore area grading).

12. Plan Preparation

Here's how highway design engineers use plan preparation:

Facilitated efficiency by developing and presenting methods for the execution of various plan preparation tasks.
Conferred with supervisor to determine project details, such as plan preparation, testing, and evaluation of field conditions.

13. Typical Sections

Here's how highway design engineers use typical sections:

Work included: construction plans, typical sections, grading and cost estimates.
Used Geopak to produce horizontal and vertical alignment, profiles, typical sections, contour grading plans and cross sections.

14. Vertical Alignments

Here's how highway design engineers use vertical alignments:

Design horizontal and vertical alignments to improve existing roadway using Bentley InRoads.
Work included: vertical alignments, cost estimates, right of way, checking plans and quantities.

15. Project Correspondence

Here's how highway design engineers use project correspondence:

Design bridge replacements and resurfacing, prepare reconnaissance and conceptual reports and other project correspondence.

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What skills help Highway Design Engineers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What soft skills should all highway design engineers possess?

Bryant Harrison

Instructor, Murray State University

Engineers are constantly working with a variety of people on a project. These people could be other engineers in the same department or other departments, managers, stakeholders, and customers. The ability to communicate both on a technical and non-technical level with these people is likely the most important soft skill for a design engineer.

What skills stand out on highway design engineer resumes?

Bryant Harrison

Instructor, Murray State University

Design Engineers should be able to think creatively and be prepared to use software to solve problems. Students who have acquired certifications in design software have shown some level of aptitude toward using that software to create and design engineering solutions.

What hard/technical skills are most important for highway design engineers?

Pooja Preetha Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Alabama A&M University

Hard skills serve as the most important, in my opinion. If you are technically sound, have reasonable computer skills and good Microsoft office suite adaptability, and have strong presentation skills, you should be able to make it.

What highway design engineer skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Dr. Bin (Brenda) Zhou Ph.D.

Professor, Central Connecticut State University

With the shrinking market of design/office work during the pandemic, I see two options for a graduate. One is to go to graduate school, and the other is to work in the field. Graduate education generally transforms a student from a generalist to a specialist, so, choose a study area carefully. In addition to gaining specialized knowledge at graduate school, students may use the time, up to certain limits, to fulfill engineering experience requirements when applying for a Professional Engineer (PE) license. Check each state's professional licensing boards for details. Most students with a BS in civil engineering prefer a design job, but field experience can be supplementary and beneficial to the design work that an engineer will do in the future. Such experiences broaden students' perspectives, and make them better engineers, because they will pay attention to constructability in their designs. A word of caution: stay agile and keep an eye on emerging opportunities. Do not get too comfortable and stay there for too long, unless construction management is your passion.

What type of skills will young highway design engineers need?

Andy Gerrick

Associate Professor and Chair, Embry-Riddle, Prescott

Most important is the ability to pull together the problem-solving skills learned in the different engineering courses to solve real-world, multidisciplinary, engineering problems. This requires a clear understanding of the problem and the requirements, and it requires a thorough understanding of engineering concepts. Memorizing problem solutions is of no value because no one will pay you to solve a problem that has already been solved. An engineer's ability to communicate is also extremely important. Engineering is a collaborative endeavor, so if you are not able to communicate your ideas, you are not contributing.

Do you want to know more?

List of highway design engineer skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a highway design engineer resume and required skills for a highway design engineer to have include:

Autocad
Highway Design
Engineering Design
Roadway Design
CAD
Construction Cost Estimates
Design Standards

Highway Projects
Traffic Control
Aided Design
Interchange
Plan Preparation
Typical Sections
Vertical Alignments

Project Correspondence
SR
Safety Improvements
Solidworks
Pro-E

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

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