Career Explorer Construction and trades
Human edge, steady
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.
Among the most resilient careers: more resilient than 84% of the 831 careers we score. AI exposure is very low (the Bureau of Labor Statistics rates it low), and US jobs are projected to change by +3.4% by 2035, slower than average. The work leans on physical dexterity.
AI struggles with much of this work. Hiring is expected to grow slower than average, or to shrink.
- Median pay (2025)
- $50,260
- Job growth to 2035
- +3.4%
- Openings a year
- 11,800
- People doing it (2025)
- 162,000
- Usual route in
- High school diploma, then moderate on-the-job training
Where people already use AI for this work
- Maintain facilities or equipment
- Prepare mixtures or solutions
From Microsoft Research, Working with AI (2025).
Work AI rarely helps with
- Direct vehicle traffic
- Dispose of waste or debris
- Perform general construction or extraction activities
What the work looks like
- 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.
From O*NET 31.0, US Department of Labor.
Careers using similar strengths, with a stronger outlook
- Derrick operators, oil and gasHuman edge, steady, Index 87, +1.6%
- Roustabouts, oil and gasHuman edge, growing, Index 95, +3.6%
- Veterinary assistants and laboratory animal caretakersHuman edge, growing, Index 95, +9.1%
- Shuttle drivers and chauffeursHuman edge, growing, Index 87, +7.1%
Also known as: Equipment Operator (EO), Highway Maintainer, Highway Maintenance Worker, Transportation Maintenance Specialist (TMS), Highway Maintenance Crew Worker, Highway Maintenance Technician, Maintenance Technician, Maintenance Worker.
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Sources: US Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections 2025 to 2035; O*NET 31.0; Microsoft Research (2025); Anthropic Economic Index (2026); Eloundou and colleagues (Science, 2024); Felten, Raj and Seamans (2023). How we score. Updated 12 October 2026.