Pavement Design Engineer (EIT III) - Denver

Engineer-in-Training III

This Engineer-in-Training III position supports CDOT's Materials and Pavement programs by performing laboratory testing and technical reviews to ensure construction materials meet required state and federal standards. The position conducts daily testing and analysis of concrete, asphalt, and soils in accordance with ASTM and AASHTO standards, contributing to the calibration of the AASHTO Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design (M-E Design) Program.

In addition to laboratory work, this position provides technical support for materials compliance programs, including Buy America (BA) and Buy America Build America (BABA). Responsibilities include reviewing Qualified Manufacturer Submittals (QSMs), evaluating materials documentation, conducting on-site audits of precast concrete and epoxy-coated steel manufacturers, and supporting CDOT regions and local agencies with materials finals documentation and compliance requirements in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration.

Your duties and responsibilities will include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Provide technical support on the statewide use of CDOT's Pavement ME Design software.
• Provide managerial oversite and coordination in the use of procedures, standardization, and workflow for pavement designs.
• Create and edit templates and databases for the Pavement ME Design software.
• Review and analyze significant inputs used by CDOT's Pavement ME Design software such as calibration coefficients, climate data, hot mix asphalt and Portland cement layer properties, thickness and projected distress from submitted designs for adherence to the recommendations in the CDOT Pavement Design Manual.
• Analyze values for the UserCost and FHWA RealCost software including lane configurations, range capacity values for types of project work, construction costs, and deterministic versus probabilistic data calculations.
• Revise and distribute the CDOT Pavement Design Manual and Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) software.
• Maintain a list of pavement design software users and inform them of any changes to the software, calibration factors, CDOT procedures, and design specifications.
• Analyze project pavement design data, and either confirm or make recommendations to the supervisor on the structural and economic feasibility of the proposed pavement structures.
• Monitor the Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCCA) for reconstruction or other appropriate projects that have over 3 million dollars bid for pavement materials and report any discrepancies.
• Make modifications to the LCCA in accordance with the applicable section(s) of the CDOT Pavement Design Manual.
• Make revisions and upgrades to the training course in pavement design and the LCCA.
• Provides technical support on the statewide use of AASHTOWare's Pavement ME Deflection Data Analysis and Back Calculation Tool (BcT) software.
• Perform managerial oversite and coordination in the use of procedures, standardization, and workflow for pavement designs.
• Coordinate the Back Calculation tool data collection with CDOT's Falling Weight Deflection equipment.
• Perform loss of support analysis and load transfer efficiency calculations.
• Review the annually submitted Quality System Manual (QSM) from the epoxy steel coater manufactures and concrete pre-cast manufacturers for compliance with Colorado Procedure 11 (CP-11).
• Visit pre-cast manufacturer's plants to perform random compliance audits of their products, processes, and quality control programs.
• Work with data provided from the Pavement Management Unit, Physical Properties Laboratory, Concrete Laboratory, Asphalt Laboratories, and Regional Personnel.
• Perform analysis on pavement distress data, projected pavement performance life, annual material cost changes, discount rates, asphalt cost adjustments, t-test and f-test analysis, weighted averages, comparing variances and means of multiple data sets, probabilistic versus deterministic design values, and triangular distributions for performance criteria reliability.
• Evaluate the nationally calibrated models versus Colorado based calibration used in the AASHTO Pavement ME Design (PMED) program.
• Determine which local calibration factors should be utilized to reduce excessive costs or premature failure due to overdesigning or under designing.
• Utilize the AASHTO Calibration Assistance Tool to model coefficient optimization processes used by the AASHTO Pavement ME Design (PMED) program. Determine when significant changes in materials, traffic, performance, and specifications occur and optimization runs showing potential data trends and relative comparisons.
• Other job duties as assigned.

Work Environment:

• Your schedule will primarily be 8:00 am – 5:00 pm work hours, Monday-Friday, with a potential opportunity for a flexible schedule
• Opportunity to work from home 1-3 days a week after training is completed
• Occasional overnight travel 1-3 times a year throughout Colorado