I’m fairly new to the traffic engineering industry, but I’ve always understood the following signal rules to apply when driving in the USA:

• Green arrow = protected right, left, or u-turn with no other conflicts

• Green ball = permission to travel straight, permissive right, left, or u-turn where you may be yielding to pedestrians and/or other vehicles

• Flashing yellow arrow = same as above for turns except you will be yielding to pedestrians and/or other vehicles

• Red arrow = must stop, not allowed to turn right or left

• Red ball = must stop, may turn right on red when safe to do so or left on red if both intersecting streets are a one-way

All of the above assume no additional signage restrictions like “No Turn On Red” or “U-Turn Yield To Right Turn” for example.

Recently, I had a jurisdiction in another part of my state trying to argue this configuration was fine for a brand new intersection. Obviously pedestrians always have the right of way, but this configuration fundamentally feels wrong. Am I crazy to push back?

Pictured location here

It's 2026 and American civil engineering firms still treat work life balance like it's the 50's. I got an offer from a company (large international company) and their letter says that I will start with 2 weeks of PTO annually (their policy states that new employees start with that for 5 years and then they increase their PTO to 3 weeks for another 5 and so on). This is absolutely pathetic especially since I'm 10 years into my career. I'm absolutely going to negotiate for a higher annual PTO but I highly doubt they will accept.

A few of my friends work in tech and they get 3 months of paid parental leave, while we only get like what, two weeks? Yeah two weeks to raise an infant completely dependant on you. My brother works in finance and he gets 4 weeks of PTO plus two additional weeks of "purchased PTO" (you deduct a portion of your paycheck to buy the extra annual PTO).

You try to explain work-life balance to the old-farts in this industry but then they go full Protestant mode on you and guilt you into thinking that you're lazy and have a poor work ethic and start talking about their jobs back in the day like their day-to-day was putting out oil fires in Kuwait. I mean God forbid I have a life I can tell my future grandkids about.

May the old-farts finally retire and this industry catch up to the modern times in terms of work-life balance.

Sort of tongue in cheek on the other post title about not wanting to be on C3D all day drafting.

I DO want to be on C3D drafting all day. Please give me the 60% markups in the bluebeam session and let me listen to music all day with my brain turned off. Please let me move leaders, turn off layers, adjust border and sheet layouts, change haul routes, change text, etc. Please let me search around old projects for an obscure detail you thought you'd never touch again and change it to specifc dimensions you need. Let me look at FAA Advisory Circulars and redraw updated airport markings on a CAD drawing.

I'm only an intern but I've been an intern for about a year and a half and I love doing things like this, yes I've done some design but the vast majority of what I do are markups.

Am I setting myself up for failure if supposedly AI will be able to replace what I'm doing In a couple years? It sure doesn't feel like it, especially because im so early in my career.

I just want to say that I enjoy being a CADmonkey and would choose it in every life

Honestly jealous of this find. Would wear despite MUTCD noncompliance.

What career paths within transportation engineering have less to do with drawings and using software to draw polylines all day

Today on a long-ish drive I realise that I pay attention to a lot of things in the landscape that I wouldn't ever have noticed before I became a civil engineer. Some of today's 'highlights' were:

An interestingly-shaped pylon

A well vegetated and well functioning SuDS scheme alongside the road

A weir constructed from a series of gabions

A rather rickety looking wooden footbridge across a road

An unusual pattern of cracks in clay soil

Various road repairs that were needed

Once upon a time I would just listen to music and notice interesting trees!

What do you notice now that you never did before?

I’ve (33M) recently accepted my first official Project Manager position. Over the last 4 years I’ve gotten serious into gaining management experience, certs, and licenses (PE). I admit the first half of my career I was lost and going with the motions. But I’m happy to have a better grasp on my strengths in this field of work now.

My background is primarily in municipal infrastructure, transportation, and urban street lighting/signal upgrades. While I’ve done a great deal of project coordination and worked my way into leadership responsibilities, you can imagine I’m still a bit nervous 😅.

What advice would you give a new PM? What do you wish you’d known starting out, and what helped you become successful in the role?

I like to be on the road and I like to be outdoors.

I don't hate math/physics but I'd rather not sit at a desk all day doing calculations/CAD.

What kind of career sounds good for me? I've heard about field engineering, but I'm not sure how to get into it as a Junior in college. Most of the career fair internships seem to be desk jobs.

Would appreciate any input or tips, especially from current field engineers.

I’m curious about people’s experience at the company in regard to culture, management, and work life balance. Employee reviews seem mixed, per usual.

Thanks!

Hello! I'm seeking help to design a park that will replace the Ford City Mall in Chicago. As a political science student at Loyola, I am starting a petition for a park, potentially covering either 10 acres or 66 acres if the proposed warehouse deal does not go through. I have no experience in design, so I would greatly appreciate any volunteers or guidance to help me move forward. Thank you for your support!

I’m an electrical engineering student considering an internship with AECOM’s NYC Transportation Department next summer. Since it’s my last summer before graduation, I’m trying to choose a company where I’d have a good chance of getting a full-time offer afterward. Does anyone know how often AECOM hires its interns full-time, especially in the NYC office? I’d also love to hear about the work-life balance, typical hours, hybrid schedule, and whether overtime is paid. How’s the job security? Are layoffs common when projects slow down?

I’ve been out of school for over a year. I started at this company before my senior year of college as an intern, I’ve been working full time since I graduated. So I’m about to hit my 3 years with this company. I work in transportation. I want to grow my salary. I’ve been wanting to start applying to different jobs, I don’t think I want to go into water because that would also mean me starting all over again. I also want to move away from design. What should be my next step? Should I look for more project manager positions? Should I go more into the contracting industry? What will get me more money? I also live in California

On August 10, 2026, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake tore 118 km beneath western Colombia (Chocó region). Intermediate-depth earthquakes typically lose considerable energy before reaching the surface, yet this rupture triggered over $13B in losses.

A few key takeaways from our simulation and intensity modeling:

1. Massive Rupture Footprint: Because the hypocenter was 118 km deep along the subducting Nazca/Malpelo slab, the energy didn't concentrate solely at the epicenter—it radiated outward across a 4,600 km² footprint, causing "Moderate" to "Very Strong" shaking across a huge swath of the country.
2. The Cali Basin Effect: Cali sits on a deep sedimentary basin (a "bowl of gelatin"). Incoming seismic waves slowed down and drastically amplified, turning moderate bedrock shaking into destructive surface shaking—causing ~100 fatalities and 5,000 damaged structures.
3. Why Armenia Survived: Armenia felt the exact same "Very Strong" intensity, yet suffered 0 collapsed buildings. Following its 1999 disaster, Armenia overhauled its building codes and enforcement, proving how much preparedness matters.

I put together a full seismic intensity simulation and structural failure breakdown covering the science behind the event:

📺 Full Video Analysis: https://youtu.be/fQUQUbME83U

Happy to answer any questions about the rupture parameters or simulation models!

I'm a student and need help to do lca for a project.

I'm very new to LCA. And have been trying to use Open LCA.

The goal is to compare different types of concrete for a functional unit of 1 meter cube.

I'm a student and have no access to any paid database.

We are trying to do this LCA by ReCipe LCIA method.

The problem we are facing is whatever database we have come across has only CO2 emissions.

But as per my understanding we would require all the data of CO2, NO2, CO, SO2, ppm etc to get results.

Will we have to actually fill manually each and every value we find from many multiple data sources like reasearch papers etc??

We are trying to take extraction of materials to construction for LCA boundary.

Hey y'all,

I recently landed a cool job in construction (business/data side) as a civil engineering student. I'm 31 so I kinda have to maintain full employment. I'm enrolled in an in-person civil program (they're regarded in my area), but I'm nearing the end of the possible classes I can take during the evenings. I don't want to give up on my civil journey that I've relatively just started. Should I explore UND (online civil engineering). It's relatively cheap, I can navigate full-time employment and directly apply what I'm learning to my current role. It's ABET accredited. And I'm confident that content knowledge I can really learn on my own.

How do we feel about the online route? Particularly for older students who are tied up with options? Is it worth it? Should I try to work things out with my new employer? Should I do online for a few semesters and then transfer back when I'm a junior/senior and there are more evening classes available? What would you do?

Hi, I am a first year student in civil engineering. Just wanted to know about the best free online sources to get better at the subject based on everyone's experience (specifically, applied maths, chemistry and mechanics).

I’ve worked on projects in both countries and had to move between ECP 203, the Saudi Building Code, and ACI. A few things caught me off guard:

• [A real difference you noticed, e.g. load combinations, seismic provisions, or cover requirements]
• [Something about documentation or review processes that differs between the two markets]
• [A mistake you’d warn juniors about]

For those who’ve worked across multiple codes: how do you keep the differences straight? Any resources you’d recommend?

Hi! We’re 4th-year Civil Engineering students working on a steel warehouse design project. We’re really struggling with the manual design of steel members, connections, and base plates. Are there any structural engineers willing to guide or teach us through the process? We’re eager to learn and would really appreciate the help. We used MIDAS btw for the structure. Thank you! 🙏🏻🥹

What are the necessary skills to grow rapidly in this Domain,Tbh i like the challenges and the love the output

Tho i don't like to keep drafting how can one exceed in this domain?

PS i have 2 years of Experience Rn!

My company is 20 years old we make everything from highways to commercial to residential structures, we deal in tens of millions, I read BOQs and plans all day, but I wonder what people want- on every level what’s a painful problem that the industry has neglected, feel free to comment or DM me for any further discussions, this is for research only. Thanks.