What is on the PE Civil Transportation exam?

The PE Civil Transportation exam has 80 questions across 10 knowledge areas in the NCEES specification effective April 2024. Traffic engineering is the largest block, at 10 to 15 questions, while horizontal design, vertical design, and drainage each run 8 to 12 questions. You work every question, and the exam is closed book: your only references are the PE Civil Reference Handbook and the design standards NCEES supplies on screen.

Knowledge areas and question ranges

NCEES gives each area a question range, and the low ends of those ranges add up to 70 of the 80 questions. The ranges below come from the specification effective April 2024. NCEES has also posted specifications effective beginning April 2027 with the same knowledge areas and question ranges; only the design standards change, as covered in what changes in the PE Civil design standards in April 2027.

If you are choosing a depth module, set this list beside the other four PE Civil options when you decide which PE Civil exam you should take.

The first five areas, in specification order, are:

The other five areas are:

What each knowledge area covers

Traffic engineering

This area joins capacity analysis, transportation planning, and safety analysis. Operations questions ask you to rate uninterrupted flow with level of service and capacity, and to rate an interrupted street segment with level of service, running time, and travel speed. Junction capacity analysis can involve an at-grade junction, a signalized junction, a roundabout, or an interchange.

Other questions in the same area start from data. You may work a volume study, apply a peak hour factor, use a speed study, split trips by mode, estimate trip generation, or review a traffic impact study. Safety questions use conflict analysis, crash rates, collision diagrams, or crash modification factors in a highway safety analysis tied to the Highway Safety Manual. Pedestrian and bicycle analysis belongs here, and so do traffic forecasts and monitoring.

Horizontal design and vertical design

Horizontal design is the geometry of curves in plan. You need the parts of a basic circular curve, including middle ordinate, length, chord, radius, and stationing along the centerline, plus sight distance along that alignment. Superelevation questions ask how steep the section is, how you transition into it, which method you use, and which components build that cross slope. Special cases include compound and reverse curves, widening through the curve, and keeping the horizontal curve coordinated with the vertical profile.

Vertical design is the profile. It covers vertical alignment, including the geometry of the grade line and vertical clearance, plus stopping sight distance and passing sight distance, both of which show up on crest curves and on sag curves.

Roadsides, intersections, drainage, and the shorter areas

Roadside and cross-section design applies forgiving-roadside ideas: clear zone, slopes a driver can recover on, and obstacles near the traveled way. Barrier questions name a barrier type, an end treatment, or a crash cushion, and the cross section itself includes lane width, shoulders, a bike lane, sidewalks, and retaining walls. Nonmotorized design adds shared-use paths, bicycle and pedestrian facilities, ADA compliance, and traffic-calming features.

Intersection geometry is the layout companion to the capacity questions. Expect sight distance at the intersection and interchange design, covering the freeway merge, entrance and exit layout, and the horizontal and vertical design of those connections. At-grade intersection layout, including roundabouts, is in this area.

Drainage splits into hydrology and hydraulics. Hydrology is runoff and measures that limit harm to water quality. Hydraulics is the culvert and the storm collection system: inlet capacity, flow in pipes, dissipation of excess energy, detention or other ways to cut the peak, and open-channel flow.

Geotechnical and pavement questions move from the soil to the pavement structure. Soil items use classification and properties such as strength, permeability, compressibility, and phase relationships, then sampling, field tests, stabilization, and slope stability, while earthwork items cover compaction, excavation, embankment, and a mass balance. Pavement items use traffic characterization parameters and the procedures for designing or rehabilitating flexible and rigid pavement, with subgrade measures such as resilient modulus, CBR, and R-value.

Project management is quantity and cost estimating, a schedule built by naming activities and putting them in order, and an economic comparison such as present worth or lifecycle cost. Traffic signals cover warrants, the design of the signal, and timing, including clearance intervals, phasing, pedestrian crossing time, and railroad preemption. Traffic control design covers signs and pavement markings that stay in place, and temporary traffic control.

Design standards you can open during the exam

A question that refers to a design standard is scored on the edition named in the specification for the exam you take, and an answer based on any other edition earns no credit. For the April 2024 transportation specification, NCEES supplies AASHTO GDHS-7 (2018), AASHTO GDPS-4-M (1993 with the 1998 supplement), AASHTO GPF-2 (2021), AASHTO HSM-1 (2010 with the 2014 supplement), AASHTO MEPDG-3 (2020), AASHTO RSDG-4 (2011), FHWA HIF-12-026 HDS 5 culverts (2012), the HCM 6th edition (2016), and the MUTCD 2009 edition (Revisions 1 and 2, May 2012).

For this module, the specifications effective beginning April 2027 replace two references:

On the exam, each design standard is a searchable PDF, and only one chapter can be open and searched at a time. The handbook and the standards stay available for the whole exam. That setup is part of what references you can use on the PE exam.

NCEES does not sell printed copies of the handbook and does not provide the design standards for home study; publishers sell the standards. The handbook to practice in is version 2.2, the third posting, from December 2025, and that PDF runs 502 pages.

PE Civil Transportation pass rate

NCEES last updated these PE Civil pass rates in July 2026. For Transportation, 1929 first-time examinees had a pass rate of 61%, and 1097 repeat examinees had a pass rate of 43%.

In that update, the Transportation first-time result sits with Construction, Structural, and Geotechnical, while Water Resources and Environmental scores higher on both the first-time and repeat columns. The Transportation repeat rate matches Structural. Figures for other PE exams are on PE exam pass rates.

How to study for the transportation exam

Every PE Civil module, including Transportation, is computer-based and offered year-round. The appointment runs 9 hours: 2 minutes for the nondisclosure agreement, 8 minutes for the tutorial, 8 hours for the exam, and a scheduled break of 50 minutes. That day is laid out in the format of the PE Civil exam. The specification uses both SI and U.S. Customary units, so your problem set should include both.

We suggest solving problems inside the handbook PDF and inside the design-standard editions named for the specification you will sit. One way to organize the weeks is the 12-week PE study plan. When you practice a lookup, open one chapter, search it, and close it before opening another, matching the one-chapter limit on the exam.

Give the most repetitions to traffic engineering, then to horizontal design, vertical design, and drainage, while still scheduling the shorter-range areas. Project management, traffic signals, and traffic control design are smaller blocks, but the ranges still put them on the form.

Frequently asked questions

How many questions are on the PE Civil Transportation exam?

The exam has 80 questions, and you work all of them. They come from 10 knowledge areas. Traffic engineering is the largest range, at 10 to 15 questions, and horizontal design, vertical design, and drainage are each 8 to 12. The appointment is 9 hours, with 8 hours for the exam and a scheduled break of 50 minutes.

What design standards are used on the PE Civil Transportation exam?

Under the specification effective April 2024, NCEES supplies AASHTO GDHS-7 (2018), AASHTO GDPS-4-M (1993 with the 1998 supplement), AASHTO GPF-2 (2021), AASHTO HSM-1 (2010 with the 2014 supplement), AASHTO MEPDG-3 (2020), AASHTO RSDG-4 (2011), FHWA HIF-12-026 HDS 5 culverts (2012), the HCM 6th edition (2016), and the MUTCD 2009 edition (Revisions 1 and 2, May 2012). Specifications effective beginning April 2027 replace the HCM with the 7th edition (2022) and the MUTCD with the 11th edition (2023). A question that depends on a standard is scored on the edition listed for that specification, and work from a different edition receives no credit.

What is the PE Civil Transportation pass rate?

In the NCEES table last updated July 2026, the Transportation first-time pass rate was 61% among 1929 examinees, and the repeat pass rate was 43% among 1097 examinees. Across the five PE Civil modules in that same update, first-time rates run from 60% to 71%, and repeat rates run from 38% to 49%. Those figures describe the group that tested in the reported period.

Do the April 2027 specifications change the transportation topics?

The knowledge areas and the question ranges stay the same as in the April 2024 transportation specification. The transportation reference changes are the HCM, from the 6th edition (2016) to the 7th edition (2022), and the MUTCD, from the 2009 edition (Revisions 1 and 2, May 2012) to the 11th edition (2023). Practice in the editions tied to the specification in effect on your exam date.

Is the PE Civil Transportation exam open book?

It is a closed-book exam. You use the PE Civil Reference Handbook (version 2.2, third posting December 2025) and the design standards listed for your specification. Those files stay available for the whole exam, and you can search only one chapter of a standard at a time. NCEES does not sell the handbook in print and does not give you the design standards for study; publishers sell the standards.

Sources

1. NCEES PE Civil: Transportation exam specifications, effective April 2024 (PDF). Retrieved October 3, 2026.
2. NCEES: PE Civil exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.
3. NCEES: PE exam. Retrieved October 3, 2026.