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Highway Maintenance Workers vs Transportation Engineers

Side-by-side · O*NET · BLS · AI-exposure research · Anthropic Economic Index

A factual, source-backed comparison of Highway Maintenance Workers and Transportation Engineers on the dimensions both occupations carry. Every figure is a position within an independent published dataset — not a verdict on which job is better, safer, or more “future-proof.”

Highway Maintenance Workers Transportation Engineers
Median pay · BLS OEWS
$49,070
$99,590
Employment · BLS OEWS
151,750
355,410
AI exposure (percentile) · task overlap, not automation
3rd pct
69th pct

At a glance

Dimension Highway Maintenance Workers Transportation Engineers
Median pay $49,070 $99,590
Employment 151,750 355,410
Employment outlook (2024–34) · BLS projection About average (+3.0%) About average (+5.0%)
Annual openings · BLS projection 12,300 23,600
Typical education · O*NET Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
AI exposure · published exposure studies Low · 3rd pct High · 69th pct
Global GenAI gradient · ILO ISCO-08 · via crosswalk 2nd pct · 9% of tasks 57th pct · 30% of tasks
Observed AI use · Anthropic Economic Index — Augmentation-leaning (23.3%)
Mostly remote-capable · Dingel–Neiman No Yes

Pay and employment are BLS OEWS estimates; outlook and openings are BLS 2024–2034 projections; AI exposure and observed-use figures come from separate research and reflect exposure and usage, not predictions that either job will disappear. Compare like with like.

Skills

Shared: English Language, Oral Comprehension, Problem Sensitivity, Transportation, Near Vision, Building and Construction, Coordination, Oral Expression, Information Ordering, Visualization, Active Listening, Speaking, Complex Problem Solving, Administration and Management, Deductive Reasoning, Inductive Reasoning, Category Flexibility.

Specific to Highway Maintenance Workers

  • Public Safety and Security
  • Control Precision
  • Multilimb Coordination
  • Operation and Control
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness
  • Static Strength
  • Manual Dexterity

Specific to Transportation Engineers

  • Engineering and Technology
  • Design
  • Mathematics
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Writing
  • Critical Thinking
  • Written Comprehension
  • Written Expression

Knowledge, skills & abilities O*NET rates as important for each occupation. “Shared” are common to both; the columns list what is distinctive to each (top by the order O*NET surfaces).

Tools & technology

Shared: Spreadsheet software , Office suite software , Electronic mail software , Presentation software , Word processing software , Data base user interface and query software , Internet browser software .

Specific to Highway Maintenance Workers

    Specific to Transportation Engineers

    Full profiles

    This page is a summary. See the complete source-backed profile for Highway Maintenance Workers or Transportation Engineers — tasks, the full skill graph, tools, work context, preparation, wages by percentile, industries, AI exposure and the AI work map.

    More comparisons

    Related occupations you can place side by side on the same sourced scale.

    Sources for this page

    Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

    Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

    Cite this page
    Plain

    Singulariki. "Highway Maintenance Workers vs Transportation Engineers." Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Built from O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026. https://singulariki.com/compare/highway-maintenance-workers-vs-transportation-engineers

    APA

    Singulariki. (2026). Highway Maintenance Workers vs Transportation Engineers. Singulariki: a source-backed encyclopedia of work. Retrieved June 7, 2026, from https://singulariki.com/compare/highway-maintenance-workers-vs-transportation-engineers

    BibTeX 
    @misc{singulariki-highway-maintenance-workers-vs-transportation-engineers,
  title  = {Highway Maintenance Workers vs Transportation Engineers},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) May 2024; BLS Employment Projections 2024–2034; Anthropic Economic Index v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27); Microsoft “Working with AI” working-with-ai; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE) Felten, Raj & Seamans; ILO / Gmyrek et al. GenAI exposure gradient 2025; IBS O*NET-SOC ↔ ISCO-08 occupation crosswalk 2022; Frey & Osborne (2013) frey-osborne-automation; Dingel & Neiman (2020) dingel-neiman-workathome. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/compare/highway-maintenance-workers-vs-transportation-engineers}
}

    Citations name the underlying public dataset releases — they reflect what this page is built from, not just the URL.