Engineer I - Traffic
About The Position
Washington County Public Works is looking for a motivated and curious emerging engineer to join our Traffic Engineering team—an essential part of keeping our communities moving safely and efficiently. This entry level role offers an exceptional opportunity to make a real impact on a countywide highway system that includes approximately 100 traffic signals, 17 roundabouts, 16,000 road signs, 114 miles of fiber optic lines, and roughly 700 highway permits each year. As an Engineer in our traffic section, you’ll play a hands-on role in ensuring safe work zones, reviewing construction plans, managing traffic data collection efforts, and overseeing roadway striping contracts. You’ll work closely with a wide range of partners—design engineers, project managers, field maintenance staff, consultants, agency partners, residents, and elected officials—so strong communication and collaboration skills are key. This is a learning-focused position. The successful candidate will receive direct mentoring and support from experienced Traffic Engineering staff, including the incumbent currently serving in this role. You’ll have opportunities to grow your technical expertise, strengthen your engineering judgment, and build a meaningful foundation for a long and successful career in transportation engineering.
Requirements
- Graduation from an accredited university or college with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering
- Certification as an Engineer in Training (EIT)
- Working toward a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Minnesota.
Nice To Haves
- Successful completion of college-level coursework in topics specific to roadway engineering
- Previous experience in roadway engineering work, which could include summer internships or other seasonal work
- Previous experience working with consultants and/or contractors
- Participation in student or professional organizations related to roadway engineering
- Prior experience in highway design, drainage design, transportation engineering, traffic engineering or project management.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement standard design procedures, programs, and processes.
- Determine, communicate, monitor and ensure data collection needs for complete analysis during design.
- Provide professional and complex engineering elements to satisfy accepted engineering principles, regulatory constraints, County financial limits, and public participation needs.
- Participate in consultant selection; review consultant plans for compliance with County standards and practices.
- Prepare and design studies for approval.
- Perform and review complex professional engineering calculations and designs for County infrastructure improvements, including horizontal and vertical alignments, cross-sections, hydraulics and right of way.
- Participate in the public project involvement process.
- Attend public and landowner meetings to understand public concerns and explain project goals and constraints.
- Review and prepare construction plan documents, project cost estimates and special provisions.
- Determine project hydrology and designs hydraulic and water quality systems.
- Review, prepare, and acquire all regulatory permits and approvals required for project initiation.
- Meet with permitting officials in the field or office as needed.
- Coordinate right of way needs, both permanent and temporary, for project completion.
- Provide technical and professional support to field construction change requests and general activities to ensure project construction success
- Prepare standard traffic engineering studies, including traffic crash reviews, intersection control warrant analysis, and traffic projection estimates.
- Complete traffic data collection tasks, including required MnDOT submittments and composition and publication of the county's annual Intersection Control Ranking System (ICRS) report.
- Coordinate and review studies prepared by consultants, local government units, and MnDOT.
- Prepare and review signing and striping plans for highway construction and maintenance projects.
- Recommend and implement traffic signal timing and phasing plans, including determining appropriate left turn phasing based on time of day or other conditions.
- Prepare and review traffic signal plans specifications, and optimization studies.
- Provide field support for traffic control on county highway projects, including conducting No Passing Zone surveys and providing field locations for signing and striping features.
- Review local project and private development proposals for county highway impacts.
- Review highway permit applications for compliance with county policies and standards.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Benefits
- Overtime hours as needed
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Entry Level
