Transportation

Airports are the gateway to the fastest mode of commercial transport, helping to carry people and packages to almost anywhere in the world and fueling trillions of dollars in economic activity annually. With traffic growth forecast to outstrip airport capacity, maintaining a regional and global competitive advantage with modern airside and landside facilities is a must.

Supporting your growth without letting a passenger or shipment miss a beat is what we do best. Our top-flight, top-ranked (according to Engineering News-Record) aviation team has nearly seven decades of experience at commercial service, general aviation and military and aerospace facilities, delivering airport planning, architecture, engineering, program and construction management, consulting and specialty services such as Operational Readiness and Airport Transition (ORAT) worldwide.

We’ve held contracts on more than 500 airport projects, including the majority of the busiest airports in the U.S., 2 of the top 3 busiest airports in the U.K., 3 of the largest airports in India, most of the fastest growing airports in the Middle East and the largest greenfield airport development project in Latin America.

We can help you navigate the challenges that come with upgrading aging infrastructure, expanding capacity and improving public transport connectivity—all through the lens of sustainable airport development.

As our infrastructure ages and the world population increases, Jacobs’ worldwide staff of professionals use new technology and expertise to develop innovative solutions to address future transportation demand. Coupled with today’s challenge to fund projects, our people are engaged with a variety of creative financial methods to implement these innovative solutions. Connected vehicles will play a major role in the development and design of future highway systems. Jacobs’ highway engineers are currently working on projects that will advance the wireless technology allowing vehicles to communicate with each other.

Jacobs provides unmatched expertise in highway engineering and design, environmental documentation, program and construction management and highway safety – and we’re your neighbors, people who understand your stakeholder requirements and local challenges.  That’s how we combine the right technical, regulatory, business and safety expertise to offer the right solution that fits your community’s needs.

Often seen as modern engineering marvels, bridges link communities and commerce, with their success ultimately hinging on how safely, quickly and economically they can be designed and constructed.

Jacobs is a globally-recognized leader in the development of innovation bridge solutions delivered safely, efficiently and sustainably, ranked No. 2 by Engineering News-Record.

We offer a full spectrum of services to a diverse range of clients, taking bridge solutions from initial concept through development, regulatory approvals, construction and commissioning to start-up and ongoing operational and maintenance support. We’ve worked on some of the longest cable-supported structures in the world, on the owner and construction side of the equation, serving as lead designer, technical advisor, independent design-checker and public-private partnership (P3) advisor. We also have extensive experience with multi-span viaducts, complex interchanges, moving bridges, arch, truss and other forms of bridges.

We’ve designed bridges spanning roads, railways and rivers, crossing valleys, estuaries and sea straits, connecting communities and creating opportunities for social change and economic development. Our bridge team has played lead roles planning, procuring, designing and delivering some of the world's most prestigious and technically demanding structures, not to mention beautiful.

Largely hidden engineering and logistics marvels that provide us with food, fuels and supplies, seaports are gateways for world freight circulation fundamental to daily existence.

Global maritime trade is expected to double in the coming decades, so port authorities and operators have a sizable challenge to tackle—modernizing operations and increasing capacity. With our ports legacy spanning back more than a century, Jacobs is the industry’s premier ports and maritime service provider. Our Ports & Maritime team provides our clients with value-added consulting, planning and engineering services for maritime infrastructure development. We have developed long-term, trusted relationships with clients around the globe for work in the containerized, bulk, general cargo, energy, offshore wind, and cruise/ferry industries, as well as for port authorities, governments and some of the world’s leading naval forces.

We have over 500 in-house port and maritime professionals around the world who have navigated some of the world’s largest and most complex programs, bringing in-depth understanding of the complex nature of maritime infrastructure.

Public transportation systems, valued as some of the most equitable and sustainable modes of transportation, connect communities and help stimulate economic development. Expanding these complex systems and adding more advanced solutions, such as high-speed rail, to meet public demand can be an intricate, high-intensity ride.

Whether your journey includes keeping pace with capacity building and accelerating technology innovations, ensuring safety and security or maintaining transport networks, we’re on board to serve all aspects of high‐speed and conventional passenger rail, freight and logistics, mass/public transit and innovative bus solutions. We’re a globally recognized leader in the safe and efficient delivery of rail and transit solutions – from planning, design and development to delivery and management.

Our more than 1,500 rail and transit professionals worldwide with the right mix of engineering, regulatory and business expertise thrive on working with clients to design and manage their most challenging capital improvement projects, hone vehicle and facility assets and put technology and safety programs into practice that keep people on the move and enhance the rider experience. Our record of successfully providing safe, innovative, economic and sustainable solutions on major passenger and freight projects is enhanced by the expertise of our staff, many with extensive experience as employees of infrastructure managers, train operating companies, governments and operating agencies.

We blend this breadth of knowledge and depth of experience to deliver safe, efficient, constructible, operable and maintainable transportation solutions, including emerging practices such as green fleets.

Our Tunnel and Ground Engineering team provides critical support to many of our clients’ most challenging projects, across multiple markets and all geographic regions. Increasing urbanization and the value of surface land is driving more owners to consider the use of underground space as a viable solution to their challenges, or to consider construction on poor ground. However, tunnel and geotechnical works typically come with significant risks that need careful management if such projects are to be delivered within time and budget constraints.

Jacobs has a proven track record of identifying and managing such risks on some of the largest and most complex tunnel and ground engineering projects in world, making us an ideal partner for clients. With nearly 900 tunnel and ground engineers worldwide, we’re one of the largest global providers of such services. We work across a range of primary disciplines including tunnel engineering, geotechnical engineering, geosciences and engineering geology, trenchless engineering and tunnel fire and life safety engineering. 

Helping our clients to move millions of people a day in a sustainable manner is a key part of our day-to-day work. Decisions made on transport infrastructure can influence the shape and success of our cities for generations, at a time of rapidly changing work and living patterns. We help our clients decide whether to invest in hard capital infrastructure, nudge people out of their cars on to more sustainable forms of transport on the drive toward decarbonization or devise new ways of using existing infrastructure more intensively—all while understanding the wider economic and political implications of such policies.

Our more than 1,000 transport planners worldwide offer a full range of services, from front-end feasibility studies and policy development to full-scale strategic modeling and scheme appraisal, to the detailed analysis of projects.