Highway Maintenance Worker

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.

O*NET reports this occupation under titles such as: Equipment Operator (EO); Highway Maintainer; Highway Maintenance Crew Worker; Highway Maintenance Technician; Highway Maintenance Worker; Maintenance Technician; Maintenance Worker; Transportation Maintenance Operator; Transportation Maintenance Specialist (TMS); Transportation Worker

Tasks

• 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.
• Drive trucks to transport crews and equipment to work sites.
• Erect, install, or repair guardrails, road shoulders, berms, highway markers, warning signals, and highway lighting, using hand tools and power tools.
• Clean and clear debris from culverts, catch basins, drop inlets, ditches, and other drain structures.
• Drive heavy equipment and vehicles with adjustable attachments to sweep debris from paved surfaces, mow grass and weeds, remove snow and ice, and spread salt and sand.
• Haul and spread sand, gravel, and clay to fill washouts and repair road shoulders.
• Inspect, clean, and repair drainage systems, bridges, tunnels, and other structures.
• Remove litter and debris from roadways, including debris from rock and mud slides.
• Dump, spread, and tamp asphalt, using pneumatic tampers, to repair joints and patch broken pavement.
• Perform roadside landscaping work, such as clearing weeds and brush, and planting and trimming trees.

Knowledge

• Public Safety and Security
• English Language
• Transportation
• Building and Construction
• Administration and Management
• Education and Training

Skills

• Monitoring
• Active Listening
• Speaking

Abilities

• Control Precision
• Multilimb Coordination
• Oral Comprehension
• Problem Sensitivity
• Arm-Hand Steadiness
• Static Strength
• Manual Dexterity
• Near Vision
• Auditory Attention
• Oral Expression
• Information Ordering
• Flexibility of Closure
• Visualization
• Selective Attention
• Finger Dexterity
• Response Orientation
• Reaction Time
• Trunk Strength
• Stamina
• Extent Flexibility
• Far Vision
• Deductive Reasoning
• Inductive Reasoning
• Category Flexibility
• Perceptual Speed
• Time Sharing
• Rate Control
• Depth Perception
• Speech Recognition
• Speech Clarity