The Minnesota Department of Transportation expects to lose hundreds of civil engineers to retirement or attrition over the next five years, and the timing couldn't be worse.

The wave of departures will be met by a dropoff in engineering graduates, leaving MnDOT with a smaller core of engineers and a greater reliance on costly consultants at a time when freeways are aging and motorists are calling for relief from traffic congestion.

Of the 660 engineers on staff, MnDOT expects 225 to retire and another 200 to leave for better pay or advancement opportunities by 2007. Similarly, the staff of trained technicians who work closely with the engineers is expected to drop from 2,300 to 1,512.

The greater reliance on consultants will mean that roads and bridges will cost more. Over the long term, a lack of civil engineers could undermine the quality of public works.

"What we have at risk is basically . . . our entire infrastructure system," said Doug Weiszhaar, MnDOT's chief engineer.

Civil engineers design roads, bridges, retaining walls, buildings, stadiums, rail lines, airports and water systems. They define and buy right of way, put building plans on paper, evaluate bids and supervise construction.

Stereotyped as brainy nerds with pocket protectors, they are more accurately described as innovative problem-solvers, said Jon Esslinger, an official of the American Society of Civil Engineers in Washington, D.C.

Because they're employed by government, they typically aren't paid as well as mechanical or electrical engineers who work in the private sector.

Those who choose the field are often drawn to public service.

"Civil engineering was the most interesting to me, because you are working for the citizenry, and you feel you are making a contribution when you see a highway built," said Gerald Rohrbach, one of many MnDOT veterans who form the huge class of retirees.

At 22, Rohrbach was among hundreds of young engineers who signed on to design the state's expanding freeway system. Now, after 35 years of work on roads, bridges, noise walls and pavement, Tuesday will be his last day as state materials engineer.

He said he feels good about the work he has done. Having presided over pavement research, he is particularly proud of MnDOT's national reputation for innovation in pavement durability.

"I do worry, if young people don't go into this business, what we are going to be able to provide for society later on," he said.

Falling numbers

According to the Society of Civil Engineers, the number of students earning degrees in the field nationwide dropped from 11,119 in 1997 to 8,750 in 2000.

The University of Minnesota will turn out 110 civil engineering grads this year, compared with a peak of 133 in 1995.

John Gulliver, head of the Civil Engineering Department at the university, said that the math aptitude required for engineering is also useful in the computer industry and that the high-tech boom drew many young people into that field. But he said he has noticed an uptick in civil engineering graduates since the crash of technology stocks, and he has seen renewed interest in the challenges of engineering following the collapse of the World Trade Center.

Still, he said that his department could find two summer jobs for every student and that the employment rate for graduates is 100 percent: "The industry is calling for students to hire."

Why they left

In addition to the shortage of new engineers, the attrition rate for experienced engineers at MnDOT is high. Department officials attribute this mostly to higher salaries outside the agency.

But engineers who have left the department give a variety of reasons, including low morale at MnDot, and they suggest that MnDOT could be doing more to keep talent.

Engineer Jill Ovik, 29, left the agency after three years to work for the Short Elliott Hendrickson consulting firm because she wanted to see what the private side of the field offered. She now works longer hours but is paid more, and she likes the atmosphere better, in part because she meets with a mentor once a month.

Engineer Mike Rief, 36, left MnDOT after 13 years because he wanted more responsibility and authority. He took a job with a company that produces asphalt for paving. He said that some of the best people in the industry work at MnDOT but that he didn't feel he had the opportunity to advance, despite having won several awards.

And engineer Matthew Zeller, 39, left his job as assistant concrete engineer at MnDOT after nine years to join the Concrete Paving Association of Minnesota. He said morale among MnDOT engineers is low because the agency is losing experienced people, and those who remain are expected to do more with less. "I didn't want to sit around and watch everyone leave and be one of the last ones on board," he said.

MnDOT's assistant commissioner, Dick Stehr, said that efforts at retention include a career-development program but that state restrictions prevent the department from offering raises or creating top-level positions to keep people.

To recruit graduate engineers, the department can offer between $35,538 and $49,674 a year. More-seasoned engineers make $47,857 to $68,006, and principal engineers -- who combine engineering with administrative skills to supervise multiple projects -- make $51,553 to $75,982. Administrative engineers, in the level just under top management, make $57,671 to $83,708.

Mark Carlson, director of human resources for MnDOT, said that the state offers better training and a better work-life balance but that when it comes to dollar signs, the consultants "can beat us every time if they want to."

Weiszhaar, MnDOT's chief engineer, said consulting firms "look at us as a feeder system -- they can cherry-pick anybody they want."

But Glenn West, executive director for the engineers union, said he thinks MnDOT officials could make a stronger case for pay increases: "They are not the decisionmakers, ultimately, in terms of the budget . . . but we sit on the other side of the table and say, 'Well, how hard did they push?' "

Use of consultants

The loss of engineers in the public sector is occurring nationwide. In some states, consultants do 50 percent or more of the transportation department's work.

In Minnesota, an overall percentage has not been calculated, but last year the bridge department contracted 54 percent of its design work in an effort to make fast use of extra money allocated by the Legislature in 2000, Stehr said.

Up to now, MnDOT has used consultants mostly to design projects. But in the future, the agency is likely to contract for right-of-way purchase, quality control and contract administration, he said.

David Warner, assistant vice president of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, an international consulting firm that has worked for MnDOT for years, said consulting engineers provide a valuable backup that allows the agency to move quickly when extra money is available.

"They only use us when they need us," he said. "We have to cover our own down time."

Still, the use of consultants is controversial because it adds to project costs and transfers some quality control from the state to private industry. "Highway Robbery," a report by the National Association of State Highway and Transportation Unions, says that consulting engineers make more money than state employees and that their bills include overhead costs for things such as rent, lights and paper, plus a profit of about 10 to 15 percent. On top of that, the report notes, state employees must spend time and money selecting and supervising consultants.

"Highway Robbery" contends that if departments fail to recruit and retain a new generation of engineers, "states will lose their capacity not only to engineer and design transportation projects but also to oversee the consultants' work and protect the public's interest in safety, quality and economy."

Stehr said MnDOT is concerned about that and hopes to retain the engineering staff necessary to do 50 percent to 60 percent of projects in-house.