Traffic Engineering Technicians support traffic engineers with the data, signal, and signage work that keeps roads moving — conducting traffic studies, supporting signal timing, drafting signing and striping plans, supporting field investigations. The work tends to mix field data collection, office processing, and applied traffic engineering.
Most days mix field traffic studies, office data work, and CAD drafting — conducting traffic counts and turning movement studies, supporting signal timing analysis, drafting signing and striping plans, supporting traffic impact analyses, and partnering with traffic engineers on complex projects. You're often working at transportation consulting firms, state DOT traffic departments, city traffic engineering groups, or specialty traffic firms, and the project type — capital project support, signal operations, traffic studies — shapes daily exposure.
What tends to be harder than people expect is the field conditions combined with deadline pressure. Field work alongside active traffic carries safety considerations, and traffic count data accuracy has real implications for project decisions. Software fluency in tools like Synchro, HCS, VISSIM, or specific signal timing platforms separates senior techs.
People who tend to thrive here are detail-oriented, comfortable in field and office, methodical with data collection, and quietly precise about traffic engineering work. If you want pure design, that lives in the engineer track. If you like applied traffic engineering work that supports how roads actually function, the role offers durable demand at consulting firms and public agencies.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Engineering roles →Traffic Engineering Technicians support traffic engineers with the data, signal, and signage work that keeps roads moving — conducting traffic studies, supporting signal timing, drafting signing and striping plans, supporting field investigations. The work tends to mix field data collection, office processing, and applied traffic engineering.
Median pay for a Traffic Engineering Technician is about $58K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $38K to $86K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, Complex Problem Solving, and Reading Comprehension.
Most people in this role hold a high school diploma.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 3.7% through 2034, with roughly 7,580 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Engineering Director, Transportation Analyst, and Senior Transportation Analyst.
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