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Boston Career Explorer

Construction and Extraction

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.

Also called: Equipment Operator (EO), Highway Maintainer, Highway Maintenance Crew Worker, Highway Maintenance Technician, Highway Maintenance Worker, Maintenance Technician

Compare with my current job (Crossing Guards and Flaggers)
Median pay in Greater Boston
$60,800
$29.23/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
1,290
Massachusetts 2024–2034
+4.9%
150 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$43,260$50,750$60,800$69,490$78,750

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • 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.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Lower exposure6 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 8
  • Language-model AIOE 8
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 3

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for highway maintenance workers is lower, and observed AI use is little or none. AI tools may help with planning work and tracking vehicle and equipment maintenance. Setting out cones, flagging traffic, driving crews to sites, and repairing guardrails and signs are physical, on-the-road tasks that people do.

Likely to change

  • Tracking vehicle and equipment maintenance
  • Planning crew work and schedules

Still relies on people

  • Flagging and directing traffic safely
  • Repairing guardrails and signs by hand

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

Next steps from here

Related jobs that build on what you already do.

  • Construction Laborers

    You already work with trucks, tools, and equipment upkeep. Laborers have 9.5% projected growth and need no formal credential.

    Pay difference
    +$2,620 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +9.5%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

  • Structural Iron and Steel Workers

    Installing guardrails and working with power tools carry over. Steel workers earn a Boston median of $120,840 through an apprenticeship.

    Pay difference
    +$60,040 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +6.1%
    To get started
    High school diploma or equivalent

  • Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers

    Road crew experience with paving and repair work helps here. Concrete finishers need no formal credential and earn a Boston median of $62,870.

    Pay difference
    +$2,070 median
    AI exposure
    Lower
    MA growth
    +2.9%
    To get started
    No formal educational credential

Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

No college programs near Boston map to this job. Many people enter through on-the-job training or apprenticeship.

Talk to a career coach at the Office of Workforce Development about apprenticeships and City partner programs.

Related occupations

Talk to a career coach

A coach at the Office of Workforce Development can help you plan your next step, and connect you with training, apprenticeships and City partner programs that are not listed here.

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