Hello, I am a current BS Architecture student and I am graduating December 2017. I want to be a transportation planner that works for a city government with a focus on TODs, street design, and pedestrian/bike oriented transportation. I was looking at urban planning programs with a transportation focus and found that maybe a dual Transportation engineering and planning degree would be beneficial. I am interested in transit design and Transportation engineering is more design/technology oriented vs a MUP. My only concern is math and physics. I like the analytical and research side of transportation and I don’t mind economics or statistics. However, I don’t like physics or calculus. I know I will have to take them as prereqs for the MST, but is it used often in the program or field? The programs I have looked at seem more statistics oriented. Do transportation engineers design by using traffic flow calculations. statistics, and data or by physics, load capacity and materials. If it is the latter, then I would not be interested and I will just stick with urban planning with a transportation focus. I have no interest in structural/civil engineering and more interested in the analytical side of engineering. Would this dual degree be useful in the field or a waste of money? I know most transportation planners are engineers. Looking at MIT, UC Berkeley, PSU, and Georgia Tech. Thank you for any help and comments, sorry for the long post.
I would look at the transportation engineering programs at each of your potential schools individually. Look at what kind of courses they offer, get in touch with somebody from those departments and ask questions. Most programs that I know of are geared towards design of the physical roadway. You’re really looking for something more along the lines of traffic engineering. I took a transportation engineering course in college and worked part time as an intern for a traffic engineering & urban planning firm. There was very little overlap.
Thank you for the advice, I will look for a program that focuses on traffic engineering. I think MIT is a good fit, because their program is a multidisciplinary and allows several different focuses that may include traffic engineering. As well as PSU, they offer classes in traffic and pedestrian engineering.