From Women in Highway Construction :
     Copyright © Jocelyn Riley

“The best part of my job is I’m active. I’m staying in constant movement. I like that I’m outdoors. I mean, I feel like I’m not closed in. I’m out in the open. I can breathe.
   - Highway Construction Laborer

“It’s different from day to day. You don’t know what’s going to happen. This week I might be doing some cross sections on my project. But next week I might actually be out in the field measuring something up.”
   - Civil Engineer

“Construction is not for wimpy people. It’s dirty, it’s messy, it’s hard. You have to have some guts and you have to jump in there and you’ve got to do things that are scaring you. But that’s the only way you are going to learn. It’s hard work, but it’s rewarding.”
   - Highway Construction Operating Engineer

“I like road construction. I’m proud of my work. I can drive down a certain road and with my family in the car and, you know, brag. Look, that’s what Mom’s doing, you know. This is what Mom did.”
   - Concrete Finisher

“I love being outside all day. And the independence that I have out in the field that I wouldn’t have in the office.. . . It’s very physical in the sense that you do a lot of running around and it’s fun, you know. It’s an adventure. Each day is different.”
   - Civil Engineer

“Last summer I didn’t go into the office once.”
   - Highway Technician/Inspector

“It can get pretty hectic. We just had six paving jobs going on at the same time and it was pretty hectic back there in the lab. We test the materials that are put out on the road.”
   - Materials Tester

“In this district, we have approximately eighty intersections with traffic signals that are controlled by computers. It’s our job either to install them or maintain them. If someone is skidding around in the middle of the winter and runs into a lightpole and knocks it down on the highway system, it’s my job to put it back up.”
   - Journeylevel Electrician