An example method for segment routing based wide area network (WAN) orchestration in a network environment is provided and includes monitoring a segment routing (SR) enabled WAN environment in at least near real-time by a path computation element (PCE) located outside the WAN, receiving an event notification at the PCE, and performing traffic engineering using SR to reroute traffic off shortest paths. In one embodiment, where a current state of the WAN is not pre-computed, performing traffic engineering comprises optimizing routes to remove violation of any utilization policies, deploying the optimized routes in the WAN, re-optimizing routes for other parameters, and further deploying the re-optimized routes in the WAN. In another embodiment, performing traffic engineering comprises optimizing routes to remove violation of any utilization policies and for other parameters, and deploying the optimized routes in the WAN. In another embodiment, performing traffic engineering comprises deploying optimized routes in the WAN.