AI Automation Index

Will AI Replace Highway Maintenance Workers?

Task-level automation exposure for Highway Maintenance Workers: 19 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.

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Developed & audited by Gini Loh

Automation Exposure

7% weighted task index

19 of 19 tasks scored

Median Salary

$50,260 / year

BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation

Employment Level

High

154,960 people hold this job — size, not growth

Projected 2025–35

+3.4% employment change

11,800 openings a year · BLS line item

Pay by state

BLS OEWS publishes 50 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.

$21,840 – $65,330

Highest medians

Oregon $65,330

Washington $65,300

Connecticut $64,870

Minnesota $63,150

Illinois $61,700

Lowest medians

Puerto Rico $21,840

Mississippi $35,120

Arkansas $35,740

Alabama $37,430

Georgia $37,560

State figures come from the 47-4051 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.

What the score is made of

Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.

Automation potential 7%

Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.

Physical work 97%

Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.

Judgment & influence 0%

Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.

Routine administration 0%

Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.

Rewritten by O*NET 0%

Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.

Consequence of error 55/100 High

O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.

Constituent Task Mix

19 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.

High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 0%

0 tasks

Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 0%

0 tasks

Low exposure (below 35%) 100%

19 tasks

How would you survive?

Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.

Simulate Upskilling →

Constituent Tasks

#4872 · Core · 5% automatable

Set out signs and cones around work areas to divert traffic.

situated mobility — Directing live traffic requires physical presence

Direct vehicle traffic.

#4871 · Core · 5% automatable

Flag motorists to warn them of obstacles or repair work ahead.

situated mobility — Directing live traffic requires physical presence

Direct vehicle traffic.

#18783 · Core · 10% automatable

Perform preventative maintenance on vehicles and heavy equipment.

physical manipulation — Physical maintenance of mechanical equipment

Maintain mechanical equipment.

#4875 · Core · 10% automatable

Drive trucks to transport crews and equipment to work sites.

situated mobility — Truck driving needs real-world navigation and control

Drive trucks or truck-mounted equipment.

#4878 · Core · 3% automatable

Erect, install, or repair guardrails, road shoulders, berms, highway markers, warning signals, and highway lighting, using hand tools and power tools.

physical manipulation — Fence installation requires manual digging and fitting

Install fencing or other barriers.

#4880 · Core · 3% automatable

Clean and clear debris from culverts, catch basins, drop inlets, ditches, and other drain structures.

physical manipulation — Manual clearing of debris and vegetation outdoors

Remove debris or vegetation from work sites.

#18784 · Core · 8% automatable

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.

physical manipulation — Vehicles and equipment driven in unstructured sites

Operate equipment or vehicles to clear construction sites or move materials.

#4877 · Core · 5% automatable

Haul and spread sand, gravel, and clay to fill washouts and repair road shoulders.

physical manipulation — Manual moving of construction materials on site

Spread sand, dirt or other loose materials onto surfaces. Move construction or extraction materials to locations where they are needed.

#4876 · Core · 13% automatable

Inspect, clean, and repair drainage systems, bridges, tunnels, and other structures.

visual inspection — Direct physical inspection of industrial equipment

Inspect industrial or commercial equipment to ensure proper operation. Clean equipment or facilities. Maintain plumbing structures or fixtures.

#4879 · Core · 3% automatable

Remove litter and debris from roadways, including debris from rock and mud slides.

physical manipulation — Manual clearing of debris and vegetation outdoors

Remove debris or vegetation from work sites.

#4874 · Core · 6% automatable

Dump, spread, and tamp asphalt, using pneumatic tampers, to repair joints and patch broken pavement.

physical manipulation — Operating compaction equipment by hand on site

Pour materials into or on designated areas. Compact materials to create level bases. Spread concrete or other aggregate mixtures.

#4881 · Core · 3% automatable

Perform roadside landscaping work, such as clearing weeds and brush, and planting and trimming trees.

physical manipulation — Manual clearing of debris and vegetation outdoors

Remove debris or vegetation from work sites.

#4884 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Apply poisons along roadsides and in animal burrows to eliminate unwanted roadside vegetation and rodents.

physical manipulation — Treating greenery is physical application work

Treat greenery or surfaces with protective substances.

#4885 · Supplemental · 15% automatable

Measure and mark locations for installation of markers, using tape, string, or chalk.

physical manipulation — Physical site dimension measurement

Measure work site dimensions. Mark reference points on construction materials.

#4882 · Supplemental · 10% automatable

Paint traffic control lines and place pavement traffic messages, by hand or using machines.

physical manipulation — Applying paint requires physical brush or spray work

Apply paint to surfaces.

#4886 · Supplemental · 8% automatable

Apply oil to road surfaces, using sprayers.

physical manipulation — Road-surfacing equipment operated manually

Operate road-surfacing equipment.

#4883 · Supplemental · 20% automatable

Inspect markers to verify accurate installation.

visual inspection — Installation inspection requires on-site physical check

Inspect completed work to ensure proper installation.

#4888 · Supplemental · 5% automatable

Place and remove snow fences used to prevent the accumulation of drifting snow on highways.

physical manipulation — Dismantling structures is heavy physical labor

Install fencing or other barriers. Dismantle equipment or temporary structures.

#4887 · Supplemental · 12% automatable

Blend compounds to form adhesive mixtures used for marker installation.

physical manipulation — Physical handling of substances in workspace

Mix substances or compounds needed for work activities.

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Community Sentiment

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Method

How this was scored

1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.

Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.

Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast

See the full method →

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