Transportation Planning as career?

[aquablue]

Can someone give me an overview of what a Trans Planner does? A typical day?
Is it very math/statistics orientated? Is there any creative design aspects to it?
Is it very like engineering?

Would a trans-planner be involved in planning the route of a new rail line?
Would they be involved in planning airports?

Basically, i'm interested in rail/airports but not so much in roads/highways. I'm trying to find out if this career is right for me. I would need to know what the typical duties of entry to senior level planners are. If anybody has this info, or has a link to it, please pass it along.

Thanks
Al

[Masswich]

Very open-ended question but as someone who worked as a Transportation Planner for several years and still dabbles in it occasionally, here is my short answer. Note that I can only speak as to my experience, in the northeast U.S., working for an MPO and a municipality and as a consultant.

It is very math/statistics oriented. The best way to get an entry level job is to be willing to wade into areas like modelling and GIS or administering metropolitan planning processes. The overall bias of the field is still towards engineers, although the new generation of engineers is generally less condescending towards planners than their predecessors.

The creative design aspects tend to be left to senior staff, politicians and senior engineers. Planners, especially at the mid- to low-level, tend to be involved in adminstering decisions that have generally already been made.

The fact is that transportation planning in the U.S. is mostly about cars and roads. If you go into the field with an aversion to roads, you will have a tough time of it, and I would say that the alternatives will get a lot of lip service but mostly be considered after roads, even in transit-friendly areas. The exception might be working for a non-profit or a transit agency, although these have their own issues.

Others may have their own perspectives- I personally enjoyed working in transportation but found I could make more of a difference working in community development/land use planning and getting involved in transportation planning from that angle.

Can someone give me an overview of what a Trans Planner does? A typical day?
Is it very math/statistics orientated? Is there any creative design aspects to it?
Is it very like engineering?

Would a trans-planner be involved in planning the route of a new rail line?
Would they be involved in planning airports?

Basically, i'm interested in rail/airports but not so much in roads/highways. I'm trying to find out if this career is right for me. I would need to know what the typical duties of entry to senior level planners are. If anybody has this info, or has a link to it, please pass it along.

Thanks
Al

[The One]

Don't forget that all important "citizen activist" liason role that many transport planners deal with in day to day activities. (Neighborhood Traffic Issues, Politics of traffic and many other related topics....)

[DennisMaPlanner]

My time as Transportation Planner lasted about 16 years. I found it very rewarding. I worked with Regional Planning Agencies in the northeast. Springfield, MA, Exeter NH and Boston. During this time I started out working with the census and collecting raw data such as traffic counts, accident statistics, etc. In my early years I also handled some rudimentary traffic and transit modeling, conducted traffic impact studies, signal timing, transit ridership forecasts etc. Later on I got involved with Road surface management, traffic impact fees, air quality modeling, promoting ridesharing, the use of alternative fuels, land use planning etc. Ultimately, after having told people many times that Transportation Planning was a great career, I left it for local planning.

Interesting that your two comments to date come from people in Massachusetts who started as Transportatio Planners who have made the same change.

EDIT

OOPS another response got in before I could finish mine

[Seabishop]

Interesting that your two comments to date come from people in Massachusetts who started as Transportatio Planners who have made the same change.

Make it 3. But my trans planning stint was very brief and very entry level. I think Masswich summarized it well.

[RSW]

The fact is that transportation planning in the U.S. is mostly about cars and roads. If you go into the field with an aversion to roads, you will have a tough time of it, and I would say that the alternatives will get a lot of lip service but mostly be considered after roads, even in transit-friendly areas.

Yeah, this is a good point. I have a love of mass transit and REALLY don't want to be doing anything to do with roads...so I am taking your warning seriously. My hope is that if oil does peak and prices rocket there will be a lot of money out there for public transit projects. Then I will be ahead of the curve when people are looking to hire. Is this too unrealistic?

[Tranplanner]

Most of the comments posted here so far are very good. I would add that it is possible to find a niche in the transportation planning field dealing solely with non-auto transportation, but it could be more difficult. You're also likely to have more success if you at least understand where the roadies are coming from.

Definitely more math/statistics involved in transportation planning. My job involves doing a lot of analysis - impacts from new development, forecasting of future travel patterns, policy, project-specific analysis of proposed infrastructure, and working with planners/engineers on various projects.

[Rumpy Tunanator]

Try and get an internship with the MPO in your area. That way you'll see what parts of the transportation field you might be interested in and what is done by the person responsible for that aspect.

The place I work for, for the most part has planners, engineers, a retired musician (wtf), a communications major (wtf), etc.

[aquablue]

Thanks all for your great responses -- keep em comming

Its really helping clarify things for me;

So, i guess they don't deal with airports much, do they?

Thanks
Alan

[Tranplanner]

Thanks all for your great responses -- keep em comming

Its really helping clarify things for me;

So, i guess they don't deal with airports much, do they?

Thanks
Alan

They can do - that's a whole specialized field of transportation planning. You might be able to find work at an airport authority or specialized consultant...not sure what, if any, coursework is out there to prepare "airport planners".

[Rumpy Tunanator]

So, i guess they don't deal with airports much, do they?

I've seen some private consultants' websites that hire airport planners. Then again the public authority that controls the airport probally does too. Here, the authority in charge of mass transit is also in charge of the airport. So I guess some transportation planners do deal with airports.

[DennisMaPlanner]

So, i guess they don't deal with airports much, do they?

Well, I have to admit that in all three of my regional planning jobs I dealt with "airport" issues, not planning airports but much of the landside issues. The big issues typically are the noise impacts of airside operations on adjacent residential uses. I was in Western Mass as the state and feds were pushing the redevelopment of Westover AFB for civilian uses (had been closed years before but never really pushed for redevelopment). In NH I was involved in the change-over of Pease AFB for civilian use - my role was mostly looking at the impacts on the adjacent roads for the RPA I worked with and their local community members. And at my last job back in MA I was the agency's contact for the communities around Hanscom Field, dealt with Logan issues and the re-use of Weymouth Naval Air Station. Again, mostly involved in the land-side consequences including noise, traffic etc.

[HilaryP]

You also might want to check out the Transportation Planning division of APA.

http://www.apa-tpd.org/

There is an aiport committee within the division as well.

Hilary