Project Sitework

Building the job on the ground: excavation and embankment, site layout and control, erosion and sediment control, protecting adjacent facilities, construction safety, horizontal and vertical curves, retaining walls, and construction methods. At 9–14 of 80 it is the largest area on the WRE exam — and most of it isn't about water.

What the problems look like

Concrete site problems, usually with a figure. Recurring shapes — earthwork volumes with bank/loose/compacted conversions and mass-diagram overhaul; leveling and stake-out; vertical-curve elevations and clearances; retaining-wall stability; excavation safety; erosion-control sizing and soil loss; and equipment production.

By exam day you should be able to —

• compute earthwork volumes in bank, loose and compacted measure;
• turn rod readings into cut/fill; stake by station and offset or azimuth and distance;
• work vertical and circular curves — elevations, turning points, clearances;
• check a retaining wall for sliding, overturning and base pressure;
• classify soil for excavation and set sloping and egress;
• size sediment controls and estimate soil loss;
• balance an equipment fleet on cycle time;
• estimate the effect of the work on adjacent facilities — surcharge on a buried pipe, settlement from dewatering, vibration from pile driving;
• apply work-zone and roadside safety requirements, not only excavation rules;
• choose a construction method for the ground — pile driving, staged embankment on soft clay, compaction by soil type.

Where people lose points

• Earthwork states: trucks haul loose volume; bank measure carries no swell; a load factor of 0.75 is 33% swell, not 25%. Keep yd³ and ft³ straight inside a formula.
• Curves: measure x from the PVC; the parabola constant is (g2 − g1)/(2L); A is the algebraic grade difference; the low point sits at the PVI station only when the grades are equal and opposite. On a circular curve, the middle ordinate is not the external distance, and both use Δ/2.
• Retaining walls: count the soil over the heel in the resisting force, with its height measured above the base slab; use Ka for a wall free to rotate; use the Meyerhof width B − 2e for soil bearing, and a linear distribution for a wall on rock.
• Excavation safety: fissured clay is not Type A, whatever its strength; the no-protection exception is for depths under 5 ft and still needs a clean inspection; egress is required from 4 ft, and the 25-ft travel limit is checked at the midpoint between ladders, not only the ends.
• Erosion control: size a basin on the total on-site contributing area — not just disturbed acres, not diverted off-site flow; set check-dam pools by the lowest crest and that reach's grade.
• Leveling: ground elevation = HI − rod reading, so a small reading means high ground; the stake is a cut when that elevation is above grade and a fill when it is below.

Have these at your fingertips

Earthwork volume formulas, curve relations, Rankine coefficients, the soil-loss tables, and the OSHA soil types and allowable slopes — and where they live in the Handbook. From the April 2027 exam, NCEES also supplies OSHA 29 CFR 1926 itself (Subpart P covers excavations); it is not on the current list, so check the specification for your exam date.

Going deeper

• A quarter of the WRE exam isn't water
• WRE design standards: the April 2027 change
• Soil Mechanics — the theory behind the wall and dewatering checks
• Project Planning — take-offs and haul costs

Part of the Water Resources & Environmental exam. Practice this area with exam-real problems — the tutor walks any one you miss. → Start practicing free — free with an account.