Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Professional traffic operations engineer

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A traffic operations practitioner specialist (TOPS) is a certification sponsored by the Transportation Professional Certification Board, Inc., and promulgated by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. A Professional Traffic Operations Engineer (PTOE) is a separate certification also offered by the Transportation Professional Certification Board, Inc. Prior to taking the now defunct TOPS exam, an individual must have at least five years of related working experience, though academic experience may be substituted for this requirement. Additionally, as the certification is not intended for professionals, licensed professional engineers are not permitted to be a certified TOPS.

Contents

Exam topics

The 150-question certification examination currently includes the following topics:

  • Traffic characteristics
  • Data collection and analysis tools
  • Field studies
  • Site impact studies
  • Documentation, reporting and presentation

    • Traffic operations studies

  • Road user characteristics

    • Traffic devices

  • Fundamentals of traffic control devices
  • Traffic signs
  • Pavement markings and delineation
  • Traffic signals
  • Temporary traffic control devices
  • Intelligent transportation systems
  • Operation and maintenance of devices

    • Elements of design

  • Functional classification of roads
  • Vehicle operating characteristics
  • Horizontal alignment
  • Vertical alignment
  • Sight distance
  • Cross section elements
  • Intersection design
  • Freeway and grade-separated intersection design

    • Traffic safety

  • Interrelationship of drivers, non-motorized users, roadways and vehicle
  • Safety data analysis
  • Safety countermeasures
  • Safety hardware
  • Safety reviews and audits

    • Incident management

  • Incident detection
  • Planning, response and recovery
  • Traveler advisory techniques
  • Corridor management

    • Transportation management

  • Signal operations
  • Parking
  • Traffic calming and speed management
  • Multimodal systems
  • Accessibility guidelines
  • Managed lanes
  • Transportation demand management

    • References

    Professional traffic operations engineer Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA