82 seconds. What does it mean? To some people it may mean nothing at all. To a 4x200 m relay team, it may mean four seconds away from a world record. It may mean nearly $15 million worth of commercial time during the super bowl. Maybe it’s enough time for a few more reps at the gym. It may mean seeing that shooting star in the night sky or not. What we do know, is that all of that meaning is lost if you’re needlessly stuck in traffic, even for 82 seconds.
While sitting in the Universidad de Zacatecas in Mexico, as an undergraduate, I learned that with a little analysis and some slight tweaking to signal timing along a two-mile corridor, I could give back an average of 82 seconds of life back to every individual traveling along that road, thousands of people, thousands of 82-second packets of life. That experience is what pushed me to a career in traffic engineering.
During my first civil engineering internship, I had a fantastic mentor named Pam. Pam trusted me, gave me opportunities to grow, to learn, to expand my skill set and build upon the knowledge I have. Pam gave me responsibility, as a very green intern, to manage the rehabilitation design of a residential sanitary sewer system. I learned a lot during that summer, but the most important moment was realizing how much work went into making each and every individual toilet in that neighborhood function when the toilet lever was pushed. I realized that day that no one is happy when they flush a toilet and it works. No one ever pumps their fist in the air when the water indeed flows down the toilet. What I did understand, even at the age of 18, is that a toilet not flushing can ruin your day, a toilet backing up could potentially even cause thousands of dollars of damage and insurance claims, which could ruin much more than just your day. That day I recognized the thousands of hours of planning, engineering, analysis, calculations, design, rehabilitation, and thought that went into nobody being “happy”, but that also went into everyone not having their day ruined. Civil Engineering. I was hooked, I could become a servant to the masses, help maintain the standard of living that so many of us enjoy without even thinking about it.
Years later when in Mexico as part of a study abroad, I found that as a civil engineer, I could go beyond maintaining the standard of living, but in transportation and traffic engineering, I could improve the standard of living of thousands of people every day, I could give them life back. I could remove 82 seconds of stress from someone’s life every day. I could give that mom or dad the time to get home from work a little earlier and see their baby’s first step, to get to that soccer game in time to see their daughter score a goal.
Since that day, I have learned that the impact civil engineers can have on the world, our communities, and our families has much more depth and breadth than just saving time, or convenience, but saving life.
Let us remember that although 82 seconds may not seem like it means much. It may mean everything to someone and that as an engineer, you may have the power to give life!
That’s why I decided to become a transportation engineer. Another neat thing, is that many engineers have a similar “ah ha” moment, and I encourage you to talk to other engineers and hear their story this National Engineers Week.
ITE is recognizing National Engineers Week 2019. Throughout the week, there will be posts from ITE members reflecting on how they chose to become transportation engineers, the importance of transportation engineers, and the need for diversity in the transportation profession.