A Vision for Transdisciplinary Transportation Engineering

Traditionally, transportation engineering has been a specialized field focused on the design and construction of transportation infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, and railways. As society requires transportation systems that are increasingly more complex, there is a growing recognition of the need for a transdisciplinary approach that fosters holistic and multimodal solutions that can promote sustainable and community growth and prosperity. Indeed, transportation issues are multifaceted, involving not only engineering but also social, economic, environmental, and policy dimensions. Moreover, transportation systems are no longer isolated entities but part of a more extensive interconnected infrastructure service network. For example, transportation systems interact with land use planning, urban design, public health, energy systems, and information technology. Therefore, an intentionally transdisciplinary focus would help transportation engineers understand these interactions and design well-integrated transportation systems that support overall societal goals. Unfortunately, the true need for transdisciplinary transportation engineering remains opaque within the transportation engineering sector. A lack of knowledge on how to operationalize synergies between engineering and non-engineering disciplines leads to potential inefficiencies within transportation engineering organizations and incongruencies between engineering solutions and societal needs. A similar and coupled challenge exists in higher education, where a structured framework for curricular integration across engineering and non-engineering departments needs the transportation industry to serve as a catalyst. Thus, the transportation sector and civil engineering programs would greatly benefit from a rigorous survey and pairing of transportation sector needs with course offerings and cross-departmental collaboration to bolster a more transdisciplinary education workforce connection that equips the next generation of engineers. To meet this need, the proposed research will employ a mixed-method approach to compare and contrast transportation engineering industry needs with existing civil engineering curricula to inform ways to address gaps and incongruencies.