Highway Maintenance Worker
A Highway Maintenance Worker is responsible for the upkeep and repair of roadways, bridges, and other vital roadway infrastructure, ensuring safe and functional transportation systems. These workers are typically employed by municipal or state governments and private transportation contractors, engaging in various tasks such as patching potholes, removing snow, mowing grass, painting road markings, and maintaining signage and lighting. The job requires a combination of practical skills, including the operation of heavy machinery and tools, as well as effective communication and teamwork to ensure safety and efficiency on construction sites.
Highway maintenance work is predominantly conducted outdoors, often in challenging weather conditions and around active traffic, necessitating a high level of situational awareness and adherence to safety protocols. Individuals interested in this field often come from backgrounds in machine maintenance, construction, or engineering, with opportunities for advancement into managerial or specialized roles. While no formal postsecondary education is required for entry-level positions, further education in transportation management or civil engineering can enhance career prospects. As technology evolves, highway maintenance workers may also need to adapt to new materials and methods that promote safety and environmental sustainability in road construction.
Highway Maintenance Worker
Snapshot
Career Cluster(s): Architecture & Construction
Interests: Machine maintenance, carpentry, construction labor, working with a team
Earnings (Yearly Median): $47,360 annual, $22.70 hourly
Employment & Outlook: Faster than Average (8%)
Overview
Sphere of Work. Highway maintenance workers are responsible for the cosmetic and structural upkeep of roadways, bridges, and all other elements of major roadway infrastructure. They are employed by municipal and state governments and by private transportation contractors. In addition to repairing and replacing dilapidated roadways, maintenance workers also remove snow, mow adjacent grass, paint roads, and replace and update lighting and signage. Senior- and management-level highway maintenance workers are transportation engineers trained in evaluating, conceptualizing, and repairing transportation systems. Others are skilled laborers specially trained to operate heavy equipment.
Work Environment. Highway maintenance workers work almost exclusively outdoors, in and around major roadways and related construction and renovation sites. Like all major construction sites, the majority of highway project sites involve potentially dangerous materials and heavy machinery. As a result, highway maintenance workers must be aware of their surroundings at all times so as not to jeopardize their own safety or the safety of those around them. Quality communication and collaboration skills are necessary to ensure an efficient and safe work environment.
Occupation Interest. Highway maintenance attracts a variety of individuals with previous professional experience in fields such as machine and equipment maintenance, systems operation, carpentry, and construction labor. Leadership roles in the highway maintenance industry attract professionals with management experience in quality control and large-scale construction. Many are civic engineering professionals with backgrounds in public transportation, logistics, or industrial engineering.
A Day in the Life—Duties and Responsibilities. The day-to-day duties of highway maintenance workers vary throughout the different regions of the United States and from season to season and project to project. Routine tasks include patching cracks, potholes, and other roadway damage. Other responsibilities may include repairing damaged safety barriers, reapplying paint to roadways, and tending to damaged light fixtures, fencing, signage, and storm drains. Workers also remove both litter and natural debris from roadways. In colder climates, maintenance workers remove snow from bridges as well as primary and secondary roadways and treat road surfaces with salt and sand during icy or otherwise potentially dangerous road conditions.
In addition to overseeing and implementing routine maintenance, highway maintenance workers inspect roadbeds, bridges, and other infrastructure. When these areas need repair or replacement, maintenance workers play a crucial role in the process. Such workers direct traffic through temporary travel lanes in construction zones, use heavy equipment and machinery to demolish old infrastructure, and transport and spread material such as sand, gravel, and asphalt throughout the work zone.
As in many other fields, technology innovations are changing the way some highway workers do their jobs. Improvements to existing machinery can make work faster and safer. Changes to materials, such as glow-in-the-dark paint and anti-icing road materials, bring new techniques for construction workers to master. One area such area is the use of water-saving pavement materials, which are porous and allow water to drain through instead of pooling on roadways. This innovation is expected to benefit the environment by saving water and make roadways safer and more durable, but they will also require additional training for workers.
Work Environment
Immediate Physical Environment. Highway maintenance workers primarily work outdoors, but they may occasionally work in indoor shop facilities. They may often be required to work at night or during inclement weather. Highway maintenance workers employed by public works departments and civic governments typically work within specific areas, while those employed by private contractors may work on different projects throughout the United States or the world, depending on their specialties. For instance, firms specializing in the construction and repair of bridges often employ teams of workers who spend anywhere from six months to a year completing projects in various parts of the country. Such crews tend to travel seasonally, seeking out work where working conditions are best.
Human Environment. Highway maintenance workers may, at times, interact with the public, directing traffic around construction sites or providing information about ongoing projects, but they primarily interact with team members in order to complete projects and tasks efficiently and safely. Sound communication and collaboration skills are paramount, as is the ability to follow intricate instructions under strict deadlines. Workers communicate with their supervisors, coworkers, and subordinates in person and via telephone and email.
Technological Environment. Highway maintenance workers use a wide range of industrial-grade construction technology, from large trucks to machines such as pavers, spreaders, forklifts, cranes, and motor graders. The ability to understand and operate new technologies is an important skill in the field.
Education, Training, and Advancement
High School/Secondary. High school students can prepare for careers in highway maintenance by completing courses in geometry, chemistry, physics, industrial arts, and computer science. Drafting and art classes can also benefit those interested in engineering work. Summer internships or volunteer work with engineering or transportation construction firms are also beneficial.
Postsecondary. A postsecondary education is not a prerequisite for an entry-level position in highway maintenance. However, employees interested in civic transportation management or upper-level engineering positions related to the field have a variety of postsecondary educational options. Bachelor’s degree programs in transportation and logistics management include courses related to budget development, hazardous materials transportation, operations management, and transportation economics.
Bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in civic construction place emphasis on the engineering aspects of the field. These programs often include advanced courses in geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, and the design of highways, pavements, and traffic. Future highway maintenance managers are also trained in engineering concepts related to temporary structures, such as formwork, temporary bridges, rigging, and bracing.
Related Occupations
Bibliography
"5 Innovations Revolutionizing Road Construction." Construction Today, 15 Jan. 2024, construction-today.com/news/5-innovations-revolutionizing-road-construction/. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
"Data for Occupations Not Covered in Detail: Highway Maintenance Workers." Occupational Outlook Handbook. Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Department of Labor, 6 Sept. 2023, www.bls.gov/ooh/about/data-for-occupations-not-covered-in-detail.htm. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.
"Highway Maintenance Workers 47-4051.00." O.Net Online,www.onetonline.org/link/summary/47-4051.00. Accessed 22 Aug. 2024.