What does a highway engineer do?
Highway Engineers are responsible for the design and implementation of road network projects. They are involved in road network maintenance, local road schemes designing, supervising construction teams, preparing tender contract documents, and administering risk assessments. Other duties include preparing construction cost estimates and ensuring health and safety directives are adhered to and prepare the project budget. Highway engineers also work with multi-stakeholders such as transport specialists, the public, and the client to deliver within the timeline.
Highway engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real highway engineer resumes:
- Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
- Utilize a number of highway design and planning programs, COGO, AutoCAD, and hand computers.
- Supervise and perform geotechnical work as soil sampling, core sampling, etc.
- Design of one interchange design (plan, profile and gore area grading).
- Design horizontal and vertical alignments of highways using AutoCAD.
- Profile roadway alignments, calculation of quantities for engineering estimates.
- Project involve the restoration and rehabilitation of existing storm sewer systems.
- Prepare detailed alignment design drawings including grade separate interchange designs and compute quantities.
- Perform evaluation and conditional survey of existing pavement and design and rehabilitation of pavement as required.
- Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection
- Perform geotechnical instrumentation monitoring and data collection
Highway engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 18% of Highway Engineers are proficient in Autocad, Highway Design, and Civil 3D. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Organizational skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Highway Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Autocad, 18%
Prepared preliminary design reports, conducted various inspections and prepared AutoCAD Drawings for Projects.
- Highway Design, 16%
Prepared price and technical proposals for highway design projects.
- Civil 3D, 10%
Water main alignment design in Civil 3D Sidewalk improvement/prioritization study Exhibit preparation and concept cost estimates in Civil 3D.
- CAD, 10%
Managed CAD software for Bentley Infrastructure products.
- Engineering Design, 9%
Supervised all types of survey in connection with highway detailed Engineering design and construction.
- Roadway Design, 8%
Assisted with the planning and design of various roadway design projects throughout New York and Vermont.
"autocad," "highway design," and "civil 3d" are among the most common skills that highway engineers use at work. You can find even more highway engineer responsibilities below, including:
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform highway engineer duties is organizational skills. Highway engineers responsibilities require that "civil engineers often oversee several projects at the same time and must be able to allocate resources effectively." Highway engineers also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "instituted process improvements and collaborative organizational strategies through the atlassian suite (jira, confluence, etc. )"
Math skills. A commonly-found skill in highway engineer job descriptions, "math skills" is essential to what highway engineers do. Highway engineer responsibilities rely on this skill because "civil engineers use calculus, trigonometry, and other mathematics for analysis, design, and troubleshooting." You can also see how highway engineer duties rely on math skills in this resume example: "produced new mathcad programs for various bridge elements that incorporate the new lrfd specifications. "
Problem-solving skills. Lastly, "problem-solving skills" is an important element of what a highway engineer does. Highway engineer responsibilities require this skill because "civil engineers may encounter problems during each stage of their work." This resume example highlights how highway engineer duties rely on this skill: "assisted project managers on several key projects involving roadway designs and improvements, and solutions easing traffic congestion. "
The three companies that hire the most highway engineers are:
- HNTB24 highway engineers jobs
- Wsp USA Buildings Inc.15 highway engineers jobs
- HDR13 highway engineers jobs
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Compare different highway engineers
Highway engineer vs. Representative projects
A Structural Designer designs, develops, and supervises the construction of new buildings and bridges, or extensions to existing properties or other structures. They review and update construction drawings as well as communicate project problems and flaws to managers.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, highway engineer responsibilities require skills like "highway design," "civil 3d," "cad," and "engineering design." Meanwhile a typical representative projects has skills in areas such as "construction management," "infrastructure," "osha," and "construction observation." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Representative projects really shine in the technology industry with an average salary of $64,096. Comparatively, highway engineers tend to make the most money in the health care industry with an average salary of $75,261.The education levels that representative projects earn slightly differ from highway engineers. In particular, representative projects are 2.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a highway engineer. Additionally, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Highway engineer vs. Structural designer
A Civil Designer plans, scales, and drafts drawings and maps for roads, bridges, and other construction projects. They work with engineers and project managers in determining material, labor, and other costs of the assigned projects.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, highway engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "autocad," "highway design," "cad," and "roadway design." Meanwhile, a structural designer has duties that require skills in areas such as "revit," "structural design," "bim," and "navisworks." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Structural designers earn a lower average salary than highway engineers. But structural designers earn the highest pay in the construction industry, with an average salary of $69,802. Additionally, highway engineers earn the highest salaries in the health care with average pay of $75,261 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Structural designers tend to reach similar levels of education than highway engineers. In fact, they're 1.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.7% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for highway engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Edoardo Sarda Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Robotics Engineering, Lake Superior State University
Highway engineer vs. Civil designer
A structural engineering intern is responsible for supporting the engineering team on construction and structural projects, identifying cost-reduction techniques, and drafting layouts that adhere to clients' specifications, business requirements, and budget limitations. Structural engineering interns join the engineers on area visits, inspecting site foundation, and calculating dimensions and material costing. They also shadow the team's best practices and recommend ways to maximize productivity and efficiency to deliver high-quality outputs within the required deadlines. A structural engineering intern must be highly technical and analytical, especially on designing deliverables that meet quality standards.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, highway engineers are more likely to have skills like "highway design," "cad," "highway projects," and "preliminary design." But a civil designer is more likely to have skills like "civil engineering," "civil design," "site design," and "wastewater."
Civil designers earn the best pay in the construction industry, where they command an average salary of $74,665. Highway engineers earn the highest pay from the health care industry, with an average salary of $75,261.Most civil designers achieve a similar degree level compared to highway engineers. For example, they're 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Highway engineer vs. Structural engineering internship
Types of highway engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
