Highway Maintenance Workers

Also Called:

Equipment Operator (EO),

Highway Maintainer,

Highway Maintenance Worker,

Transportation Maintenance Specialist (TMS)

What they do: 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.

Construction, Supply Chain & Transportation icon

Construction, Supply Chain & Transportation

Career Cluster

What do they typically do on the job?

  • 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.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

Dependability

Cautiousness

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

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Realistic

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Conventional

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Social

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Controlled Movement

  • Quickly change the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat

  • Use your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down

Hand and Finger Use

  • Keep your arm or hand steady

  • Hold or move items with your hands

Endurance

  • Exercise for a long time without getting out of breath

Attention

  • Pay attention to something without being distracted

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements

  • Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Highway Maintenance Workers jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop