What is on the PE Civil Transportation exam?

Eighty questions from ten knowledge areas. The NCEES specification allocates 10-15 questions to Traffic Engineering (capacity, planning and safety); 8-12 each to Drainage, Horizontal Design and Vertical Design; 7-11 each to Intersection Geometry and Roadside and Cross-Section Design; 6-9 each to Geotechnical and Pavement and to Project Management; and 5-8 each to Traffic Control Design and Traffic Signals. The ranges are wide deliberately - they sum to between 70 and 107 against an exam of 80, so no sitting hits every maximum.

Is the PE Civil Transportation exam mostly traffic engineering?

No. Four areas are geometric design - Horizontal, Vertical, Intersection Geometry, and Roadside and Cross-Section - and together they carry 30 to 46 of the 80 questions. The three traffic areas carry 20 to 31. Geometry outweighs traffic by about half again. Candidates who picture this depth as capacity analysis and signal timing are preparing for the smaller half of it.

Why is there drainage on a transportation exam?

Because highway engineers size culverts and stormwater systems. Drainage is 8-12 questions, exactly as large as Horizontal Design, and it covers hydrology with runoff and water-quality mitigation plus hydraulics with culverts, inlet capacities, pipe flow, energy dissipation, detention and open-channel flow. It is the same body of material the Water Resources and Environmental depth examines, appearing here as roughly an eighth of the paper.

How long is the PE Civil exam and how many questions?

Eighty questions in a 9-hour appointment, of which 8 hours is exam time. Across 80 questions that is 6 minutes each - our own arithmetic rather than a figure NCEES publishes. It is roughly double the FE's pace per question, because PE questions are longer and more design-like, not because the exam is more generous.

What reference material do you get?

The exam is closed book with an on-screen searchable reference: the NCEES PE Civil Reference Handbook, together with the design standards the specification lists - for this depth that means the AASHTO Green Book, the Roadside Design Guide, the MUTCD and the Highway Capacity Manual among others. You cannot bring your own copy. Practising against a searchable PDF rather than printed books matters more than candidates expect, because locating a table under time pressure is a distinct skill from knowing it exists.

PE Civil Transportation: what the exam actually covers

Most candidates picture this depth as capacity analysis and signal timing. By the NCEES specification, geometric design carries 30–46 of the 80 questions and the three traffic areas carry 20–31 — geometry outweighs traffic by about half again. And Drainage, at 8–12, is exactly the size of Horizontal Design.

Updated September 1, 2026 · by the FE to PE Prep team

Questions

Exam time

Knowledge areas

~6 min

Per question

It is a geometry exam with a hydrology block in it

Group the ten areas into three families and the shape of the paper changes. Geometric design — horizontal, vertical, intersection, roadside and cross-section — is the biggest of the three. Traffic engineering, control and signals together are smaller. And the remaining third is drainage, geotechnical and pavement, and project management: material that is not transportation-specific at all.

Geometry: 30–46 of 80. Four areas, and the only family with two of the three largest allocations. Curves, sight distance, superelevation, interchanges, roundabouts, clear zones, barriers, cross-sections.
Traffic: 20–31 of 80. Capacity and safety analysis is the single biggest area at 10–15, but Traffic Control Design and Traffic Signals are 5–8 each — the two smallest on the exam.
Drainage is 8–12, the same as Horizontal Design and more than Traffic Signals and Traffic Control combined. Hydrology, culverts, inlets, detention, open-channel flow. If you are choosing this depth to avoid water, it is an eighth of the paper anyway.
It is six minutes a question, not three. Eight hours of exam time across 80 questions — double the FE's pace, because the questions are longer and expect fluent movement between the handbook and the design standards.

Three real problems

One from Horizontal Design, one from Drainage, one from Intersection Geometry — the three families in order. All from our free PE Civil Transportation set. Read the distractor notes rather than just the answer: on a depth exam the wrong options are engineered, and on the first one below two of the three are correct answers to questions nobody asked.

1. Length of a simple circular curve

Horizontal Design is 8 to 12 questions and this is its most basic quantity. One curve, one length — except that a curve has several lengths and three of them are on the page.

1
medium
A. Circular curve geometry & stationing
A simple circular curve has radius $R=1200$ ft and central angle $\Delta=28^\circ$ on a divided-highway curve. The length $L$ of the curve (arc PC to PT) is most nearly:
1. 293.2 ft
2. 33600 ft
3. 586.4 ft
4. 580.6 ft
Show the answer & worked solution
Answer: C.586.4 ft
$L=R\Delta\dfrac{\pi}{180}=1200\cdot28\cdot\dfrac{\pi}{180}=586.43$ ft. Distractors: FORGOT the degree→radian factor, $R\Delta=33600$ ; reported the LONG CHORD $LC=2R\sin(\Delta/2)=580.61$ ft (a straight line, shorter than the arc) instead of the arc; and HALVED $\Delta$ as if for a tangent term, $R(\Delta/2)\tfrac{\pi}{180}=293.22$ ft.

What the distractors teach: Only one distractor is a mistake; the other two are real lengths of this same curve. 580.6 ft is the long chord, the straight line from PC to PT — genuinely shorter than the arc, as every chord is, and just 6 ft away in 586. Nothing about it looks wrong. 293.2 ft is the arc through half the deflection, the quantity you would want for a mid-curve station. 33,600 ft is the actual error: R·Δ with the degree-to-radian factor dropped, and it is the only one you can catch by sanity-checking magnitude. Re-checking your arithmetic will never find the other two, because the arithmetic is correct.

2. Peak discharge by the rational method

Drainage is 8 to 12 questions — exactly the size of Horizontal Design, and larger than Traffic Signals and Traffic Control Design combined. This is hydrology, and it is worth as much to you as curve geometry.

2
medium
A. Highway hydrology & runoff
A fully-paved interchange ramp catchment has a runoff coefficient $C=0.85$ and a drainage area $A=6$ acres. The design rainfall intensity is $i=4.2$ in/hr. By the rational method ( $Q=CiA$ , $Q$ in cfs), the peak discharge is most nearly:
1. 29.6 cfs
2. 21.4 cfs
3. 18.2 cfs
4. 25.2 cfs
Show the answer & worked solution
Answer: B.21.4 cfs
$Q=CiA=0.85\cdot4.2\cdot6=21.42$ cfs. Distractors: OMITTED $C$ (used $C=1$ ), $iA=25.2$ cfs; DIVIDED by $C$ instead of multiplying, $iA/C=29.65$ cfs; and APPLIED $C$ twice (squared it), $C^2iA=18.21$ cfs.

What the distractors teach: One coefficient, three ways to mishandle it. 25.2 cfs drops C entirely, which is the same as calling a paved ramp perfectly absorbent — and it is the largest of the four, because ignoring runoff loss can only overstate. 29.6 cfs divides by C instead of multiplying, which is dimensionally fine and physically backwards. 18.2 cfs applies C twice. The equation Q = CiA is printed for you; every wrong answer here comes from what C means, not from where to find it.

3. Intersection sight distance, worked backwards

Intersection Geometry is 7 to 11 questions, and this one runs the standard relation in reverse: you are given the sight distance that exists and asked what time gap it buys. Then you have to judge whether that is enough.

3
medium
A. Intersection sight distance & roundabout geometry
A stopped driver making a left turn has 650 ft of clear sight distance along a major road posted at $V=45$ mph (required time gap $t_g=7.5$ s). Using $\text{ISD}=1.47\,V\,t_g$ , the time gap the available sight distance actually provides is most nearly:
1. 14.4 s
2. 8.84 s
3. 10.3 s
4. 9.83 s
Show the answer & worked solution
Answer: D.9.83 s
$t_g=\dfrac{\text{ISD}}{1.47\,V}=\dfrac{650}{1.47(45)}=9.83$ s, which is ≥ the required 7.5 s (so the gap is adequate). Distractors: DROPPED the $1.47$ factor (14.44 s); ROUNDED the $1.47$ factor down to $1.4$ (10.32 s); and mis-read the major-road speed $5$ mph too high, using $V=50$ mph (8.84 s).

What the distractors teach: The answer is 9.83 s against a 7.5 s requirement, so the sight distance is adequate — and the question is only finished once you have said so. 14.4 s drops the 1.47 mph-to-ft/s factor and would pass a sight line that does not exist. 10.3 s rounds 1.47 down to 1.4, a 5% error that still clears the requirement and so never announces itself. 8.84 s reads the major-road speed 5 mph high; it still clears 7.5 s, which is the point — three of the four options say the intersection is safe, and only one of them is right about why.

Where the 80 questions come from

NCEES publishes exactly how many questions come from each knowledge area. The ranges are wide and sum to between 70 and 107 across the ten areas against an exam of 80, so no single sitting hits every maximum — but the ordering is stable, and it is the best guide there is to where your hours belong.

PE Civil Transportation knowledge areas and question counts, per the NCEES specification effective April 2024
Knowledge area	Questions
Traffic Engineering — capacity, planning and safetytrafficThe largest single area. Intersection capacity at grade, signalized, roundabout and interchange; volume and speed studies, peak hour factor, modal split, trip generation, traffic impact studies; conflict analysis, crash rates and collision diagrams; nonmotorized facilities; forecasts; and Highway Safety Manual crash modification factors.	10–15
Drainagenot transport-specificExactly as large as Horizontal Design. Hydrology including runoff and water-quality mitigation, and hydraulics including culverts, inlet capacities, pipe flow, energy dissipation, detention and open-channel flow. This is water engineering, on a highways exam.	8–12
Horizontal DesigngeometryCircular curve elements — middle ordinate, length, chord and radius definitions, centreline stationing — plus sight distance, superelevation rate and transitions, and the special cases: compound and reverse curves, curve widening, coordination with the vertical.	8–12
Vertical DesigngeometryVertical alignment geometrics and clearance, and stopping and passing sight distance across both crest and sag curves.	8–12
Intersection GeometrygeometryIntersection sight distance, interchange design including freeway merges and entrance and exit design, and at-grade layout including roundabouts.	7–11
Roadside and Cross-Section DesigngeometryForgiving-roadside concepts — clear zone, recoverable slopes, obstacles — barrier types with end treatments and crash cushions, cross-section elements from lane widths to sidewalks, and nonmotorized design including ADA compliance and traffic calming.	7–11
Geotechnical and Pavementnot transport-specificSoil classification and testing, resilient modulus, CBR and R-values, slope stability, soil properties and phase relations, compaction and mass balance, and flexible and rigid pavement design and rehabilitation.	6–9
Project Managementnot transport-specificQuantity and cost estimating, schedules with activity identification and sequencing, and economic analysis including present worth and lifecycle costs.	6–9
Traffic Control DesigntrafficPermanent signs and pavement markings, and temporary traffic control — work-zone tapers, phasing and devices.	5–8
Traffic SignalstrafficSignal timing including clearance intervals, phasing, pedestrian crossing timing and railroad preemption; signal warrants; and signal design.	5–8

Areas and ranges are NCEES's, verbatim. The three-family grouping is our own reading of the published subtopics, not an NCEES label.

The allocation mistake worth avoiding is the mirror of the one candidates make on the Water Resources depth. There, a water engineer under-prepares for the construction sitework that is the largest area. Here, a traffic engineer under-prepares for the geometry that outnumbers traffic 30–46 to 20–31, and for the drainage block that is as large as any curve topic on the paper.

Choosing between Transportation and Water Resources

All PE Civil candidates sit the same breadth exam and pick one depth. These two overlap more than their names suggest, and the overlap is drainage: hydrology, culverts, inlet capacity, detention and open-channel flow appear on both — 8 to 12 questions here, and a larger share of the Water Resources paper.

The honest difference is what surrounds that shared block. Transportation surrounds it with geometric design; Water Resources surrounds it with treatment processes and, in its largest single area, construction sitework. Neither is the exam its title implies, and both reward reading the specification before the textbook.

The companion page covers that depth in the same detail: what the PE Civil Water Resources exam actually covers.

Common questions

What is on the PE Civil Transportation exam?: Eighty questions from ten knowledge areas. The NCEES specification allocates 10-15 questions to Traffic Engineering (capacity, planning and safety); 8-12 each to Drainage, Horizontal Design and Vertical Design; 7-11 each to Intersection Geometry and Roadside and Cross-Section Design; 6-9 each to Geotechnical and Pavement and to Project Management; and 5-8 each to Traffic Control Design and Traffic Signals. The ranges are wide deliberately - they sum to between 70 and 107 against an exam of 80, so no sitting hits every maximum.
Is the PE Civil Transportation exam mostly traffic engineering?: No. Four areas are geometric design - Horizontal, Vertical, Intersection Geometry, and Roadside and Cross-Section - and together they carry 30 to 46 of the 80 questions. The three traffic areas carry 20 to 31. Geometry outweighs traffic by about half again. Candidates who picture this depth as capacity analysis and signal timing are preparing for the smaller half of it.
Why is there drainage on a transportation exam?: Because highway engineers size culverts and stormwater systems. Drainage is 8-12 questions, exactly as large as Horizontal Design, and it covers hydrology with runoff and water-quality mitigation plus hydraulics with culverts, inlet capacities, pipe flow, energy dissipation, detention and open-channel flow. It is the same body of material the Water Resources and Environmental depth examines, appearing here as roughly an eighth of the paper.
How long is the PE Civil exam and how many questions?: Eighty questions in a 9-hour appointment, of which 8 hours is exam time. Across 80 questions that is 6 minutes each - our own arithmetic rather than a figure NCEES publishes. It is roughly double the FE's pace per question, because PE questions are longer and more design-like, not because the exam is more generous.
What reference material do you get?: The exam is closed book with an on-screen searchable reference: the NCEES PE Civil Reference Handbook, together with the design standards the specification lists - for this depth that means the AASHTO Green Book, the Roadside Design Guide, the MUTCD and the Highway Capacity Manual among others. You cannot bring your own copy. Practising against a searchable PDF rather than printed books matters more than candidates expect, because locating a table under time pressure is a distinct skill from knowing it exists.

Build your study plan

Tell us how long you have. We'll budget your hours across every knowledge area using the official NCEES question weights — the heaviest areas get the most time, which is the opposite of how most people study.

Work through seven more

Ten free PE Civil Transportation problems in total — clear-zone adjustment, pedestrian interval, vertical curve elevation, work-zone taper, freeway demand flow rate, relative compaction, present worth — every one with the full worked solution. No signup.

Try the free PE Civil Transportation set Explore PE Civil Transportation

Knowledge areas, question counts and format are from the NCEES PE Civil: Transportation CBT exam specification effective beginning April 2024. The per-question time and the three-family grouping of the ten areas are our own, not NCEES figures. No pass rate or exam fee is quoted here because we hold no primary source for either. Specifications and fees change over time — confirm current specifics at ncees.org. Independent study resource; not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by NCEES.