Construction and extraction
Highway maintenance worker
Maintain highways, municipal and rural roads, airport runways, and rights-of-way. Duties include patching broken or eroded pavement and repairing guard rails, highway markers, and snow fences. May also mow or clear brush from along road, or plow snow from roadway.
Median pay
$50,260
Growth to 2035
+3%
about as fast as average
Openings a year
11,800
Time to qualify*
6 months
* From a bachelor's degree in an unrelated field.
Pay
Highway maintenance worker
Getting in
- Typical entry education
- High school diploma or equivalent
- On-the-job training
- Moderate-term on-the-job training
- Prior experience
- None
What the work is like
Dealing with the public
Unpleasant or angry people
Time pressure
Cost of a mistake
Freedom to make decisions
Repeating the same tasks
Time sitting
Time standing
Outdoors in all weather
Hazardous conditions
Exposure to disease
Highway maintenance worker: 1% usually work over 40 hours a week
Core tasks
- Set out signs and cones around work areas to divert traffic.
- Flag motorists to warn them of obstacles or repair work ahead.
- Perform preventative maintenance on vehicles and heavy equipment.
- Drive trucks to transport crews and equipment to work sites.
- Erect, install, or repair guardrails, road shoulders, berms, highway markers, warning signals, and highway lighting, using hand tools and power tools.
- Clean and clear debris from culverts, catch basins, drop inlets, ditches, and other drain structures.
- Drive heavy equipment and vehicles with adjustable attachments to sweep debris from paved surfaces, mow grass and weeds, remove snow and ice, and spread salt and sand.
- Haul and spread sand, gravel, and clay to fill washouts and repair road shoulders.
Also called: Equipment Operator (EO) · Highway Maintainer · Highway Maintenance Crew Worker · Highway Maintenance Technician · Highway Maintenance Worker · Maintenance Technician · Maintenance Worker · Transportation Maintenance Operator
Outlook and AI
Highway maintenance workers held 161,800 jobs in 2025. BLS projects 167,300 by 2035 (+3%, about as fast as average; all jobs: +3.5%).
Compare with
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Operating engineers and other construction equipment operators
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Rail-track laying and maintenance equipment operators
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Pile driver operator
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Septic tank servicers and sewer pipe cleaners
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Construction laborer
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Maintenance and repair workers, general
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Excavating and loading machine and dragline operators, surface mining
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Industrial truck and tractor operators
- Highway maintenance worker vs. Extraction worker helper