How To Become A Highway Construction Inspector: What It Is and Career Path

What is a highway construction inspector and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

The average highway construction inspector salary is $52,163. The most common degree is a bachelor's degree degree with an civil engineering major. It usually takes 4-6 years of experience to become a highway construction inspector. Highway construction inspectors with a OSHA Safety Certificate certification earn more money. Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow -4% and produce -5,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreHighway Construction InspectorUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,163

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.4

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.89%

Asian 3.37%

Black or African American 8.16%

Hispanic or Latino 12.87%

Unknown 5.74%

White 68.97%

Gender

female 10.68%

male 89.32%

Age - 52

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 52

Stress level

7.4

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.4

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a highway construction inspector

Explore highway construction inspector education requirements

Most common highway construction inspector degrees

Bachelor's

39.3 %

Associate

25.0 %

High School Diploma

25.0 %

Start to develop specific highway construction inspector skills

Skills	Percentages
Asphalt	29.11%
Highway Construction	21.96%
Construction Projects	14.26%
Construction Inspection	11.63%
Construction Methods	5.43%

Complete relevant highway construction inspector training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New highway construction inspectors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a highway construction inspector based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real highway construction inspector resumes.

Research highway construction inspector duties and responsibilities

Coordinate, manage, and conduct geotechnical engineering and engineering geology subsurface investigations.
Issue summonses to contractors violating operating procedure and appear in court as a witness.
Inspect installation of mechanical and plumbing systems to comply with construction drawings and specifications.
Monitor contractor QC activities and maintaining accurate records.

Get highway construction inspector experience

Generally, it takes 4-6 years to become a highway construction inspector. The most common roles before becoming a highway construction inspector include construction inspector, inspector team lead and civil engineer.

Prepare your highway construction inspector resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your highway construction inspector resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a highway construction inspector resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable highway construction inspector resume templates

Build a professional highway construction inspector resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your highway construction inspector resume.

Apply for highway construction inspector jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a highway construction inspector job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do highway construction inspectors rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Highway construction inspector reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Aug 2019

Pros

See & guard that the public/goverment in general get the right construction methodology in public works horizontal & vertical construction from its material to application.

Cons

wasting of citizen/government money in wrong doing during its construction project implementation.