Look, here's how it actually works in practice:

• The politicians approve a budget for a project.
• The project is managed by the state/county/city DOT, with the project manager being a licensed Professional Engineer (PE).
• The design of the project is contracted out to a private engineering firm, where the engineer in charge of the design is a PE (and the people working under him who actually do most of the work are either also PEs, or are at least licensed Engineers In Training (EITs)).
• At least at the firm I worked at, the CEO of the company was also a PE.
• The construction is contracted out to a private construction firm, where the engineer in charge of construction is a PE.

Except for the 10,000-foot level budgeting, everyone with a position of authority over the project is a licensed PE. It's PEs all the way up. The buck stops at the PEs.

The problem here is not that PEs are being bullied by someone else into not doing their jobs properly. PEs are not victims in this scenario, not even a little bit.

The problem here is that PEs don't think they have an obligation to make streets that are safe for anyone but drivers, because the entire industry standards of practice are wrong.