Transportation Engineer -Roadway

Job Description

As a key member of our Transportation team, you’ll be directly involved in the technical design and delivery of Illinois DOT roadway projects, applying your deep engineering expertise to develop practical, high‑quality solutions that improve mobility and safety across Illinois.

• Perform hands‑on roadway design for IDOT transportation projects, including highways, interchanges, and complex urban and rural corridors.
• Apply expert knowledge of IDOT Design Manuals, Standards, Specifications, and Guidelines to develop compliant, constructible design solutions.
• Use Open Roads Designer (ORD) extensively for geometric design, corridor modeling, plan production, and coordination with drainage, traffic, and structural elements.
• Prepare, check, and review roadway geometry, profiles, cross sections, grading, and drainage designs, ensuring accuracy and adherence to IDOT and FHWA requirements.
• Develop and review design calculations related to alignment, sight distance, superelevation, drainage, and other transportation engineering components.
• Review plan sets and technical deliverables, providing detailed technical comments and quality checks prior to submission.
• Coordinate closely with project managers and multidisciplinary teams to ensure seamless integration of roadway, drainage, traffic, utilities, and structures.
• Develop IDOT project specifications, special provisions, and cost estimates, ensuring consistency with IDOT standards and project scope.
• Support field investigations and site visits, evaluating existing conditions, constructability constraints, and design impacts.
• Respond to IDOT and agency comments, revising designs and documentation as required through design development and final submittals.
• Contribute technically to proposals and IDOT pursuits by providing approach narratives, scope input, and workload estimates.
• Provide day‑to‑day technical guidance to junior engineers, reviewing their work and offering hands‑on mentoring to support skill development and quality outcomes.

• Bachelor's degree in Civil, transportation, or Structural Engineering or related discipline.
• Professional engineering (PE) license.
• 7 years of related experience.
• Domestic and/or international travel may be required (frequency contingent on duties and project demands).
• Equivalent additional directly related experience considered in lieu of a degree.

• Experience working on Illinois DOT (IDOT) projects.
• Expert knowledge of IDOT Design Manuals, Standards, Specifications, and Guidelines.
• Proficiency with Open Roads Designer (ORD).
• Strong technical writing skills, including the ability to develop work plans and lead technical discussions.
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary project tasks or serving as a design lead on complex infrastructure projects.

We attract the best people in the industry, supporting their efforts to learn and grow. We strive to create a challenging and progressive work environment. We provide career opportunities that span a variety of disciplines and geographic locations, with projects that our employees plan, design, build and operate as diverse as the needs of our clients. CDM Smith is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, pregnancy related conditions, childbirth and related medical conditions, sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression), national origin, age, marital status, disability, veteran status, citizenship status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.