Highway Maintenance Workers
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.
Most important skills
- Operation and Control
- Operations Monitoring
- Monitoring
- Coordination
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
Key knowledge
- Public Safety and Security
- English Language
- Transportation
- Building and Construction
- Education and Training
- Administration and Management
- Mechanical
- Customer and Personal Service
What the work involves
- Flag motorists to warn them of obstacles or repair work ahead.
- Set out signs and cones around work areas to divert traffic.
- Dump, spread, and tamp asphalt, using pneumatic tampers, to repair joints and patch broken pavement.
- Drive trucks to transport crews and equipment to work sites.
- Inspect, clean, and repair drainage systems, bridges, tunnels, and other structures.
- Haul and spread sand, gravel, and clay to fill washouts and repair road shoulders.
- Erect, install, or repair guardrails, road shoulders, berms, highway markers, warning signals, and highway lighting, using hand tools and power tools.
- Remove litter and debris from roadways, including debris from rock and mud slides.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Social.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (88.3% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (41.8%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (30.7%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Highway Maintenance Workers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Low | Lower on contact with others than 61% of occupations compared | 68% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | High | Higher on dealing with the public than 62% of occupations compared | 54% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Very high | Higher on teamwork than 84% of occupations compared | 84% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Very low | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 88% of occupations compared | 47% of surveyed respondents chose “Some freedom” |
| Time pressure | Low | Lower on time pressure than 62% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very high | Higher on conflict situations than 90% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | High | Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 79% of occupations compared | — |
| Consequence of error | Very high | Higher on consequence of error than 92% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: low
- Conflict situations: very high
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: high
- Consequence of error: very high
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 4.43%
- Occasional contact with others: 6.19%
- Contact with others about half the time: 16.92%
- Contact with others most of the time: 4.8%
- Constant contact with others: 67.66%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 13.45%
- Fairly important: 5.51%
- Important: 1.23%
- Very important: 53.94%
- Extremely important: 25.86%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0.68%
- Fairly important: 4.31%
- Important: 9.23%
- Very important: 1.98%
- Extremely important: 83.8%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0.12%
- Very little freedom: 21.66%
- Limited freedom: 18.41%
- Some freedom: 46.7%
- A lot of freedom: 13.11%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 6.01%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.62%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 28.06%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 34.05%
- Every day: 27.26%
n = 27, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 9.38%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 5.58%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 26.04%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 26.27%
- Every day: 32.72%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 5.54%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 21.23%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.68%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 17.16%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 5.42%
- Fairly serious: 4.4%
- Serious: 14.35%
- Very serious: 21.17%
- Extremely serious: 54.66%
n = 28, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 47-4051.00 · SOC 47-4051 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8