What does a highway maintenance worker do?
Highway maintenance workers are employees who are responsible for performing various tasks to provide safety and working order to all highways and roads. These workers must visit problematic areas to assess the situation of highways and then perform duties such as paving uneven or damaged highways or painting traffic lines and dividers. They must work during times of extreme weather by operating plows to clear the roads of fallen trees, rocks, or other debris that are blocking the highway. They must also possess the skills to perform repairs on heavy machinery such as salt trucks, blowers, and forklifts.
Highway maintenance worker responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real highway maintenance worker resumes:
- Operate snow plows, haul trucks, bobcats, front end loaders, and backhoe equipment.
- Maintain trucks, pavement making equipment, snowplows, and salt spreaders.
- Operate all cdl equipment which include snow plow, highway striper, street sweeper and transporter.
- Operate a single and tandem axle dump truck, backhoe, loader, roller, and chain saws.
- Haul equipment out to job tandem dump truck with trailer operate backhoe paving roller, bobcat and loader.
- Follow behind operating machinery, such as mowers, and weed whack what the mowers are unable to mow.
- Operate brooms, loaders, backhoes, mowers, dump trucks and flag traffic to form a detour around construction.
- Transport (via standard dump truck) materials such as dirt, rocks, sand and asphalt to various job locations.
- Patrol roads for hazards and roadway conditions.
- Help with lights wiring plumbing yard kitchen.
- DOT physical, CPR and first aid certify.
- Assist with traffic control for state highway patrol and paint crew.
- operate heavy equipment, CDL driver, emergency response to accidents and emergency repairs.
- Work on new road construction, also make sure that the base layers are done properly before the asphalt are poured.
- Trim grass in creases of highway slope with weed eater and proceed to finish with blower equipment.
Highway maintenance worker skills and personality traits
We calculated that 9% of Highway Maintenance Workers are proficient in CDL, Highway Maintenance, and Asphalt. They’re also known for soft skills such as Problem-solving skills, Reading skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Highway Maintenance Workers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- CDL, 9%
Obtained Class B CDL license.
- Highway Maintenance, 7%
Position: DPW-State Highway Maintenance-Picked up city trash-Cut grass-Sprayed poles-Laid asphalt-Heavy equipment operator
- Asphalt, 7%
Worked on new road construction, also made sure that the base layers were done properly before the asphalt was poured.
- Hand Tools, 6%
Used hand tools, power tools, electrical and electronic testing devices and pullers Took apart and reassembled equipment.
- Loaders, 5%
Operated vehicles and heavy equipment such as loaders, tractors, bulldozers, graders, 6-wheel Sterling dump truck with plow.
- GRASS, 5%
Litter pickup and cut highway grass.
Common skills that a highway maintenance worker uses to do their job include "cdl," "highway maintenance," and "asphalt." You can find details on the most important highway maintenance worker responsibilities below.
Problem-solving skills. One of the key soft skills for a highway maintenance worker to have is problem-solving skills. You can see how this relates to what highway maintenance workers do because "as assistants to civil engineers, these technologists and technicians must be able to help engineers identify problems and design projects to solve them." Additionally, a highway maintenance worker resume shows how highway maintenance workers use problem-solving skills: "maintain cleanliness of facility and ensure adherence to all health and safety regulation while working with cleaning solutions. "
The three companies that hire the most highway maintenance workers are:
- New York State Restaurant Association102 highway maintenance workers jobs
- State of Ohio7 highway maintenance workers jobs
- State Of South Dakota6 highway maintenance workers jobs
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Compare different highway maintenance workers
Highway maintenance worker vs. Snow plow operator
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, highway maintenance worker responsibilities require skills like "highway maintenance," "asphalt," "minor maintenance," and "hand tools." Meanwhile a typical snow plow operator has skills in areas such as "snow blowers," "snow removal equipment," "safety practices," and "bobcat." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Snow plow operators really shine in the finance industry with an average salary of $39,366. Comparatively, highway maintenance workers tend to make the most money in the construction industry with an average salary of $46,511.snow plow operators tend to reach similar levels of education than highway maintenance workers. In fact, snow plow operators are 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Highway maintenance worker vs. Hot oiler
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that highway maintenance worker responsibilities requires skills like "cdl," "highway maintenance," "asphalt," and "minor maintenance." But a hot oiler might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "production equipment," "frac," "rig," and "pressure test."
Hot oilers earn similar levels of education than highway maintenance workers in general. They're 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Highway maintenance worker vs. Paint crew person
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a highway maintenance worker is likely to be skilled in "cdl," "highway maintenance," "asphalt," and "minor maintenance," while a typical paint crew person is skilled in "caulking," "coats," "exterior surfaces," and "dorm rooms."
Most paint crew people achieve a similar degree level compared to highway maintenance workers. For example, they're 1.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Highway maintenance worker vs. Road worker
Types of highway maintenance worker
Updated January 8, 2025
