SOMERVILLE — A highway worker was fatally struck by a car while picking up traffic cones from a roadwork site on Interstate 93 Tuesday morning, the second time in as many days a maintenance worker was hit on a state highway by an allegedly drunk driver.

The crew was finishing its work around 2:45 a.m. when Thomas O’Day, 52, was struck by a 2012 Fiat 500 in the work zone near the Roosevelt Circle exit in Medford, officials said. A second highway worker, a 33-year-old Taunton man, was injured, police said.

The driver, James Scoville, failed several field sobriety tests and registered a .163 blood-alcohol level, more than twice the legal limit. In a second test administered later, his blood-alcohol level was .13, a prosecutor said. He was charged with motor vehicle homicide while operating under the influence of liquor, and bail was set at $2,500.

“This guy went around the truck, went into the work zone, and hit somebody,’’ said state Highway Administrator Thomas Tinlin. “It drives you crazy.’’

The fatal crash came a day after a 60-year-old maintenance worker was struck in the Ted Williams Tunnel by an allegedly drunk driver. The worker was seriously injured but is expected to survive.

O’Day, from East Bridgewater, was on foot collecting cones at the time of the crash. He was found lying motionless in the second travel lane of the work zone.

“At the time of the crash, a work zone safety setup was in place, including safety cones, warning signs and two truck mounted attenuator trucks with arrow boards in the setup,’’ the state transportation department said in a statement.

O’Day worked for HiWay Safety Systems, a company that handles pavement marking for the transportation department.

Investigators believe Scoville struck O’Day, and then another truck, where a second worker was standing on the rear platform, according to a police report filed in Somerville District Court. The worker was hit by debris from the crash and thrown from the truck, suffering a laceration over his left eye that required 13 stitches.

While being booked, Scoville, 31, admitted he had been drinking and said he struck O’Day, the report stated.

At his arraignment Tuesday afternoon, not-guilty pleas were entered on Scoville’s behalf.

Scoville’s parents, Paul and Judy Scoville, said their son told them he fell asleep behind the wheel. He had worked a double shift Monday as a waiter at State Street Provisions, a restaurant on Long Wharf in Boston, they said.

“I just know that he is devastated and we are, too,’’ Judy Scoville said outside the courtroom.

Paul Scoville said his son told him he had a “terrible night.’’

“You could hear it in his voice,’’ he said.

The highway work did not have a police detail, Tinlin said, as HiWay Safety Systems had requested. Last week, State Police told the company they would not be able to provide one, and referred the detail to police in Woburn, the site of the staging area for the road crews.

Woburn Police Chief Robert Ferullo Jr. said Tuesday afternoon that he was looking into the matter and could not immediately provide details.

Tinlin said that state highway officials scaled down the scope of the work after learning there would be no police detail. Plans to paint lines across the remaining width of the highway were scratched, he said.

“We only work if it’s safe to do so,’’ he said. “This is about a drunk driver. This is not about police details not showing up.’’

In a statement, the company said it was working closely with investigators.

Relatives of O’Day declined to comment Tuesday.

A colleague at HiWay Safety Systems, who asked not to be identified, said O’Day had been with the company for a couple of years, working everything from traffic control to site labor.

“Tommy was a wonderful person. Hard-working, family person,’’ he said. “He loved his family.’’

A neighbor, Curtis Sawyer, said he had known O’Day for more than 40 years, since he was a student of his at East Bridgewater High School.

“He was friendly and very helpful,’’ said Sawyer, 72.

Sawyer said he would often see O’Day helping his neighbors.

“The last time I talked to him, he invited us to a Fourth of July party, which we all used to go to,’’ he said. “It’s tragic, and you don’t expect these things to happen . . . he was a nice guy, and I’m going to miss him.’’

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi. Trisha Thadani can be reached at trisha.thadani@globe.com.