Transportation Engineers
In short: today's best AI models could do about 28% of this job's working time (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) if the work were set up for them, and about 89% by the end of 2028 if progress keeps its long-run pace. The people and hands-on work, about 10% of the time, stays with people.
Develop plans for surface transportation projects, according to established engineering standards and state or federal construction policy. Prepare designs, specifications, or estimates for transportation facilities. Plan modifications of existing streets, highways, or freeways to improve traffic flow.
$100,840 a year (for the broader BLS group this job sits in).
A typical 40-hour week
Not yet reviewed task by task- AI could take on11 h
- A person checks AI's work0 h
- Desk work AI can't do yet25 h
- Stays with people4 h
Transportation Engineers, now: of a 40-hour week, AI could take on 11 hours, 0 hours become checking its work, 25 hours are desk work it can't do yet, and 4 hours stay with people.
The largest pieces: Prepare project budgets, schedules, or specifications for labor or materials (about 2 h); Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices (about 1 h); Prepare final project layout drawings that include details such as stress calculations (about 1 h).
Estimates for a typical week of this job, if progress keeps its long-run pace, counting work the best models finish four times in five. Every task is below.
of the working time. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- 90%
- 4%
- 6%
of the work: Anthropic's measure of what people already bring to Claude at work (2025). It counts help with part of a task, so it can be higher than the share within reach.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
Change assumptionsHide assumptionsLong-run pace, four in five
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 2.4 work days long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 2%. Today's estimate: 28%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
Measured use over time
Of the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled and tied to a work task, 0.021% went to this job's tasks in May 2026, the 328th largest of the 447 jobs that showed up at all; 2 of its 26 tasks showed up. Within each of Anthropic's methods, never across a change: 0.062% to 0.038% (released February and March 2025); 0.038% to 0.02% (August 2025 to February 2026); 0.011% to 0.021% (April to May 2026).
Each release
| Conversations | Share | Rank | Tasks seen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Released February 2025 | 0.062% | 243 of 708 | 10 of 26 |
| Released March 2025 | 0.038% | 313 of 703 | 8 of 26 |
| The week of Aug 4, 2025 (released September 2025) | 0.038% | 279 of 655 | 3 of 26 |
| The week of Nov 13, 2025 (released January 2026) | 0.019% | 393 of 672 | 6 of 26 |
| The week of Feb 5, 2026 (released March 2026) | 0.02% | 400 of 677 | 5 of 26 |
| April 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.011% | 397 of 434 | 1 of 26 |
| May 2026 (released June 2026) | 0.021% | 328 of 447 | 2 of 26 |
Measured, not estimated: Anthropic's samples of Claude.ai conversations, each tied by a model to an O*NET task, from the Anthropic Economic Index. It says where Claude's use goes, not how much of this job's working time it covers, so it is not on the same scale as the reach above. The releases differ in their sample, their classifier and the smallest share they report (the June 2026 file rounds each task to a hundredth of a percent, so a smaller task reads as none), which is why a change of method starts a new line. At least 96% of each older release's task-tied use matched this site's tasks, and all of the newest. Claude.ai only, so use through other tools and other companies' models is not in it. Every job ranked.
Robots and the physical work
Anthropic rates 4% of this job's working time as physical work. For 0% of the working time, a robot has been shown doing most of the task somewhere. 0.00 of 3.
- Not physical 96%
- No robot shown 4%
Anthropic's rating, not this site's estimate: Claude Opus 5, searching the web, rated each physical O*NET task by the kind of setting in which a robot it could cite (deployed, sold or demonstrated) does most of the task, weighted by its own estimate of each task's share of the time (What work can robots do?, September 30, 2026, data CC BY 4.0; every job ranked). A robot shown somewhere is not a robot in your building: cost, setup and safety decide that. The share within reach on this page still counts no body work. The robot behind each rated task is under the task below.
The tasks
Sorted by . 26 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prepare final project layout drawings that include details such as stress calculations.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 11% | 2.1 work days6.7 h to 1.3 work weeks | 28%Half by Mar 2027 | |
| Design or engineer drainage, erosion, or sedimentation control systems for transportation projects.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 11% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.3 work weeks | 11%Half by Jul 2027 | |
| Model transportation scenarios to evaluate the impacts of activities such as new development or to identify possible solutions to transportation problems.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 11% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 10%Half by Sep 2027 | |
| Plan alteration or modification of existing transportation structures to improve safety or function.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 11% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 7%Half by Nov 2027 | |
| Design or prepare plans for new transportation systems or parts of systems, such as airports, commuter trains, highways, streets, bridges, drainage structures, or roadway lighting.Done daily by most who do it. | 11% | 1.7 work weeks4.2 work days to 3.3 work weeks | 0%Half by Dec 2027 | |
| Prepare project budgets, schedules, or specifications for labor or materials.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 6% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 2.5 work days | 80%Half by now | |
| Investigate traffic problems and recommend methods to improve traffic flow or safety.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 5% | 1.7 work days5 h to 3.3 work days | 47%Half by now | |
| Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 3.3 h1.7 h to 1.3 work days | 97%Half by now | |
| Prepare administrative, technical, or statistical reports on traffic-operation matters, such as accidents, safety measures, or pedestrian volume or practices.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 4% | 6.7 h3.3 h to 2.5 work days | 80%Half by now | |
| Estimate transportation project costs.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 3% | 6.7 h2.5 h to 1.7 work days | 84%Half by now | |
| Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 3% | 1.7 h50 min to 3.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Design transportation systems or structures with sustainable materials or products, such as porous pavement or bioretention structures.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 3% | 3.3 work days6.7 h to 1.7 work weeks | 10%Half by Sep 2027 |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025). Counts are for the broader BLS group this job sits in.
Questions about this job
- How much of the work of Transportation Engineers is within reach of AI now?
- An estimated 28% of the working time is within reach of AI models now and 89% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five (69% to 90% across the three paces the site shows). Within reach means a model could finish work that long at that reliability. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
- Which tasks of Transportation Engineers come within reach first?
- Weighted by the time each takes, the tasks with the most within reach now (projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index) are: Prepare project budgets, schedules, or specifications for labor or materials (80% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028); Check construction plans, design calculations, or cost estimations to ensure completeness, accuracy, or conformity to engineering standards or practices (97% of the task's time now); and Prepare final project layout drawings that include details such as stress calculations (28% of the task's time now, 100% by the end of 2028).
- Which tasks of Transportation Engineers stay with people?
- Tasks that are people work or body work are not counted as within reach at any date. The largest: Confer with contractors, utility companies, or government agencies to discuss plans, specifications, or work schedules; Supervise the maintenance or repair of transportation systems or system components; and Investigate or test specific construction project materials to determine compliance to specifications or standards. Together such tasks are about 10% of the working time.
- Do people already use AI for the work of Transportation Engineers?
- In the Claude.ai conversations Anthropic sampled for May 2026 and tied to a work task, 0.021% went to this job's tasks, the 328th largest share of the 447 jobs that showed up; 2 of its 26 tasks appeared. Anthropic's labor market measure puts the share of the job's tasks seen in real Claude use at work at 1%. These are measures of use, not of how much of the work AI could finish, and they cover Claude only.
- Can robots do the physical work of Transportation Engineers?
- Anthropic's robot exposure rating (September 2026) finds 4% of the working time is physical work, and that a robot has been shown doing most of the task, somewhere, for 0% of the working time. Its index is 0.00 of 3. A robot shown somewhere is not one in every workplace; this site's own estimates still count no physical work as within reach.
- How is this estimated?
- From the 26 tasks O*NET lists for the occupation, each with an estimated length checked against GDPval and a share of the working time, each classed as desk, people or body work, and METR's measurements of how long a task the best AI models can finish, carried forward to the date from the latest, Claude Mythos Preview (early) in April 2026. Data checked November 10, 2026.
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