Our society is highly mobile and increasingly dependent on transportation facilities for its economic, social and recreational well-being. From shipments of raw materials and finished goods to personal travel, our national transportation system exerts significant influence on our quality of life. Civil engineers respond to this need through the planning, design, construction, and operation of facilities for all modes of transportation, including highway, rail, air, water and mass transit.

Diverse career challenges range from the design of a new highway to planning an airport facility, from developing computerized traffic surveillance and control systems to investigating the feasibility of mass transit for urban areas, and from directing the rehabilitation of an urban freeway to implementing a high-speed rail line.