TxDOT Item 666 Retroreflectorized Pavement Markings: Bid Code Spec, Pricing and Post-Installation Requirements
Item 666, Retroreflectorized Pavement Markings, runs to hundreds of bid codes. This covers the 28 bid items that show up most often and carry the most dollars across TxDOT lettings over the last 24 months. On a bid tab most of them look the same. A 6-inch white solid line shows up four separate times with four different codes and four different prices. Here's what actually separates them, what you're carrying inside the unit price whether you priced it or not, and what each one has been going for on recent lettings.
TxDOT Item 666 Bid Code Variants: What Determines Pricing
Item 666, Retroreflectorized Pavement Markings, pays for markings "of the type, color, shape, width, size, and thickness specified." That sentence is why the item runs to hundreds of codes instead of one. Change any of those six attributes and you've got a different pay item at a different price. The 28 below are the ones worth knowing, the codes that actually keep showing up on lettings.
Six things move across these 28:
- Material type. Type I is hot-applied thermo, spec'd in mils. Type II is traffic paint, spec'd in gallons per mile, at least 30 per mile on concrete and asphalt, 33 on surface treatments, for a 6-inch solid line. Type III (multipolymer) is in the spec but doesn't show up in these 28. Different material, different equipment, different retro minimum, different price.
- Whether it carries a retroreflectivity requirement. Three of these 28 have "W/RET REQ" in the description: 666-6306, 666-6309, and 666-6321. Those have to hit a measured retro number after they're down, and if they miss, you're restriping on your own dime. The rest of the Type I codes don't carry that. It's the biggest difference on this list and the easiest one to blow past, because the descriptions otherwise read almost the same.
- Profile or non-profile. Two codes are profile markings, the raised bar across the stripe. TxDOT spec's the equipment production minimum for both: 30,000 feet a day for 6-inch non-profile solid or broken, 15,000 feet a day for profile. Half the rate, same crew, same shift.
- Width. Six, 8, 12, and 24 inch. Worth knowing the spec only requires equipment to lay down "linear non-profile markings up to 8 in. wide in a single pass." Go wider than 8 and you're not holding that same linear rate.
- Shape. Solid, broken, dotted, arrows, words. Arrows and words get measured by each, not by the foot, and they don't run at a linear production rate at all. Pricing them off a per-foot number doesn't work.
- Color. White and yellow. Yellow's retro minimum is lower than white, 175 against 250 on Type I, which only really matters on the three codes that carry the requirement.
Five of these 28 aren't markings at all, they're sealer. 666-7347 through 666-7354 are pavement sealer, a separate pay item with its own unit price. The spec says sealers "are recommended for old asphalt surfaces (more than 3 yr. old) and for all concrete surfaces before placing Type I markings on locations that do not have existing markings." If the plans call for sealer and it's not in your bid, that's a hole in your scope.
TxDOT Item 666 Pricing: Key Takeaways
- Three of these codes carry a performance obligation the rest don't. 666-6306, 666-6309, 666-6321. Measured after installation, restripe on you if they miss.
- Surface cleaning on new asphalt and on any retrace is subsidiary. It's inside your unit price. Cleaning on concrete gets paid under Item 678. Know which one you're looking at.
- Profile runs at half the production rate of non-profile. 15,000 feet a day against 30,000.
- Retro measurement means going back out to a live road with your own traffic control, weeks after your striping crew finished and moved on.
- This is a plans quantity item. You get paid the proposal quantity, not what gets measured in the field.
Cost Factors for TxDOT Item 666 Retroreflectorized Pavement Markings
Cost Factors That Vary by Bid Code
Work through these one code at a time. They're what makes 666-7411 a different number than 666-7024.
- Material type. Type I against Type II is the biggest single step in this item. Different material, different equipment, different service life.
- The retro requirement. Put 666-6309 next to 666-7411. Both Type I, white, 6-inch solid, 100 mils. Same stripe, same crew, same day. One has to get measured after the fact and restriped at your cost if it comes up short. That's real exposure to carry in your price, even without a clean market number to size it against.
- Profile. Half the daily rate. Compare 666-7266 against 666-7411 on white, 666-7270 against 666-7423 on yellow. If your numbers on those pairs sit close together, that production hit isn't in your price.
- Width. Price should climb with width, but not on a straight line, since past 8 inches you lose single-pass application.
- Arrows and words. Per each, no linear rate, priced on a different basis entirely.
- Quantity risk. Item 666 is a plans quantity item:
"The quantity to be paid is the quantity shown in the proposal, unless modified by Article 9.2., 'Plans Quantity Measurement.'"
You get paid what's in the proposal. If your takeoff disagrees with the plans quantity, that's a decision you make while you're pricing, not a quantity you go get later.
Cost Factors That Apply to Every TxDOT Item 666 Bid Code
These don't separate one code from another. They sit under all of them.
- Dry pavement, and TxDOT means tested dry, not looks dry. For Type I, you put a sample on tarpaper, let it cool, and check the underside for condensation. For Type II and III, a square foot of clear plastic weighted down, checked after 15 minutes. Surface temp above 50 degrees. Every one of those is a shift you can lose.
- Weather timing is on you, one direction only.
"If markings are placed at Contractor option when inclement weather is impending and the markings are damaged by subsequent precipitation, the Contractor is responsible for all required replacement costs."
Works the other way too. If the Engineer tells you to stripe in bad weather and it gets damaged, repair or replacement gets paid on top of the plans quantity. - Tolerances that put you back out there on your own cost. Width within an eighth of an inch. Alignment within 1 inch per 200 feet, 2 inches max. No more than 5 percent holes or voids by area. Beads embedded 40 to 60 percent. Skip lines between 10 and 10.5 feet. No more than 5 percent material loss in any 1-foot section. Anything out of alignment or out of sequence comes out at your expense under Item 677.
- Thickness, and the 180 mil ceiling. Type I minimums run 100 mils for new work and for retracing water-based markings on seal coat, 60 mils retracing over existing thermo, 90 mils for everything else. The number that ought to worry you is a different one. If a restripe pushes combined thickness past 180 mils, the Engineer can make you remove everything and start over. At 100 mils a pass, that's about one restripe before removal is the only option left.
TxDOT Item 666 Payment Terms: Subsidiary Work vs. Separately Paid Items
This is the part that costs people money, and it's four paragraphs buried at the bottom of the payment section.
Subsidiary, meaning it's already inside your marking price:
"Surface cleaning for pavement marking applications on new asphalt surfaces with no existing pavement markings and for retracing of existing pavement markings on all surfaces will not be paid for directly, but will be subsidiary to this Item."
"Surface preparation of any surface where pavement markings are being retraced, except for sealing, will not be paid for directly, but will be subsidiary to this Item."
Paid under a different item: cleaning on concrete, and on asphalt when the plans call for it, goes under Item 678. Read the exclusions though. New asphalt with no existing markings, and retracing, are specifically carved out of 678, which drops them right back into subsidiary.
Paid separately within 666: pavement sealer, at its own unit price.
There is an out on excessive cleaning. If it goes past regular brooming and blowing compressed air, thick mud, heavy dirt, grass growing through the pavement, the Engineer can pick it up on force account. Worth asking before you just eat it.
Also on you: traffic control while retro measurements are being taken, and removal of anything you placed out of alignment.
TxDOT Item 666 Post-Installation Requirements: Retroreflectivity and Performance Period
Your obligation on Item 666 doesn't end when the truck pulls off the job. This is where a striping bid that looked fine at letting quietly goes upside down.
First, check whether retro even applies. It doesn't always. The spec exempts contracts under 20,000 total feet of longitudinal markings, callout work, black shadow markings, and work zone markings. Add up the longitudinal footage on the job before you assume either way.
The numbers you have to hit. Type I: 250 mcd/m²/lx white, 175 yellow. Type I high performance and all-weather: 400 white, 250 yellow. Type II: 175 white, 125 yellow. All-weather adds a wet continuous number on top of the dry one.
When they measure. Most surfaces, 10 to 30 days after you place it. Seal coat, 3 to 10 days. High performance, all-weather, and Type III, 30 to 60 days.
What you need to measure with. Over 50,000 feet of longitudinal markings, it's a mobile retroreflectometer, approved by Materials and Tests and certified through TTI's program. Between 20,000 and 50,000, mobile or portable is your call.
What it costs when it fails.
"Restripe at the Contractor's expense if the markings fail retroreflectivity requirements."
And it stays yours for 30 days. Everything has to hold up for at least 30 calendar days after installation. Anything that fails gets replaced within 30 days of notice, and the replacement starts its own fresh 30-day clock.
Item 672 carries this same kind of post-installation performance obligation, worth checking if you're pricing both items on the same job.
Pricing Considerations for Retroreflectivity Compliance
- A second mobilization for measurement, weeks after your crew is gone, traffic control included. The spec says the same time restrictions that applied while you were striping apply again during the inspection, unless you're running a mobile unit.
- Retroreflectometer cost, whether you own one or sub it out, sized to whichever threshold the job's footage puts you in.
- Restripe money on the three retro-required codes specifically. Don't spread it across all your Item 666 work. That exposure lives in three codes.
- Carry cost on the 30-day window, which runs past the point most striping outfits consider the job closed.
TxDOT Item 666 Bid Item Pricing Data
Average unit price across TxDOT lettings over the last 24 months. Each code links to its full pricing page, where you can see the spread by competitor, by district, and by quantity band.
Pricing Analysis: Key Cost Comparisons Across TxDOT Item 666
The useful comparisons are between codes that are identical except for one thing. Whatever gap shows up is what the market charges for that one difference.
Thermo runs 2 to 2.5 times traffic paint. Same width, same color, same shape, every time:
Profile carries a 40 percent premium, and that's worth a hard look. White 6" solid goes from $0.50 flat to $0.70 profile. Yellow does the same. But the spec cuts your production rate in half on profile work, 15,000 feet a day against 30,000. If crew and equipment were driving your cost, a 50 percent production hit should show up as more than a 40 percent price bump. Either material is carrying more of the cost than the labor is, or the market is underpricing profile relative to what it actually takes to lay down. Worth knowing which one is true for your outfit before you bid it.
Price per inch of width climbs hard past 8 inches, exactly where the spec says it should. Type I white solid:
The jump from 8 to 12 inches is the big one: 50 percent more width, 210 percent more money. That's the single-pass limit showing up in the pricing. The spec only requires equipment to lay markings up to 8 inches wide in one pass. Past that you're making multiple passes, and the market prices it accordingly.
Dotted extension lines price like a different item. 666-7009, white 6" dotted, averages $1.30 against $0.50 for the same width solid. Short segments, constant start and stop, almost no linear footage per setup. If you're pricing dotted off your solid line rate, you're low by a factor of two and a half.
Sealer adds roughly a quarter to 40 percent on top of the marking. Matching geometry, every time:
If the plans call for sealer and you didn't bid it, that's the size of the hole.
Color barely moves the number. White and yellow price the same on Type I 6" solid, same on Type II 6" solid, and within a dime everywhere else. Worth noticing because yellow's retro threshold is lower than white's, 175 against 250 on Type I. Easier target, same price.
Broken prices at or slightly above solid, which surprises people, since a skip line puts down a quarter of the material per foot of roadway. White 6" runs $0.60 broken against $0.50 solid on thermo, $0.30 against $0.20 on paint. Confirm how your plans quantity counts a skip line, painted footage or total line length, because that assumption changes the math completely.
Executing TxDOT Item 666: Avoiding Rework and Ensuring Payment
For whoever's running the job. Same spec, stated as things to do.
Rework Triggers Under TxDOT Item 666
- Markings out of alignment or out of sequence, removed under Item 677
- Retro comes up short, restripe on you
- More than 5 percent of the markings damaged or disfigured under open traffic before acceptance
- A restripe that pushes combined thickness past 180 mils, which can turn into full removal
- Striping ahead of weather at your own option, then losing it
Field Compliance Requirements for TxDOT Item 666
- Run the actual dryness test, don't eyeball it. Tarpaper for Type I, clear plastic for Type II and III.
- Surface temp above 50 degrees before you start
- Guide locations verified before you place, and guide material that won't leave a permanent mark
- Handheld thermometer on site that reads 300 to 450 degrees for Type I work
- Material heated above 390 degrees for uniform flow, but under whatever the manufacturer caps it at
- Flush the spray head any time application stops for 5 minutes or more
Pay Application Requirements for TxDOT Item 666
- Get your sequence and daily production approved up front. The spec requires it, and it's easier to sort out before you're striping than after.
- Label your sample containers right: material type, color, mass, manufacturer, batch number.
- Collect retro data in the right window and the right format. Mobile gets averaged every tenth of a mile. Portable is at least 20 readings per mile, per series of markings, spaced at least 100 feet apart. Notify the Engineer and TTI at least 24 hours before you take them.
- Know how it measures. Each stripe measured separately, so a double centerline is two measured lines, not one. Profile measures as a single marking including the stripe and the raised profile, no matter whether it went down in one pass or two.
- Plans quantity is what gets paid, so a quantity question goes through Article 9.2, not through a field measurement after the fact.
Built for people pricing and executing TxDOT pavement markings
Frequently asked questions about TxDOT Item 666
What is TxDOT Item 666, Retroreflectorized Pavement Markings?
It's the TxDOT spec for retroreflectorized pavement markings, covering thermoplastic, traffic paint, and multipolymer striping, plus pavement sealer and the retroreflectivity requirements that attach to longitudinal markings.
Why do two Item 666 bid codes with the same description price differently?
Check whether one carries a retroreflectivity requirement, codes with "W/RET REQ" have to hit a measured retro number after installation, with restriping at your expense if they miss, but don't assume that's the reason without confirming it. Other factors can produce the same description on paper with a different price behind it.
What's the difference between Type I and Type II pavement markings?
Type I is hot-applied thermoplastic, spec'd in mils, with higher retro minimums. Type II is traffic paint, spec'd in gallons per mile, at least 30 gallons per mile on concrete and asphalt for a 6-inch solid line.
When does TxDOT require retroreflectivity measurement?
It doesn't apply to contracts under 20,000 total feet of longitudinal markings, callout work, black shadow markings, or work zone markings. Over 50,000 feet, you need a mobile retroreflectometer.
What happens if pavement markings fail retroreflectivity?
You restripe at your own expense. On Type I, if the restripe also comes up short or the combined thickness goes past 180 mils, the Engineer can require full removal and a fresh application.
Is surface preparation included in the pavement marking price?
Depends on the surface. Cleaning on new asphalt with no existing markings, and retracing on any surface, is subsidiary to Item 666. Cleaning on concrete, and on asphalt when the plans call for it, gets paid under Item 678.
Is pavement sealer a separate bid item?
Yes, with its own unit price. The spec recommends it on asphalt more than three years old and on all concrete surfaces before placing Type I markings where there aren't existing ones.
What production rate does TxDOT expect for striping?
The equipment minimums are 30,000 feet per working day for 6-inch non-profile solid or broken, and 15,000 feet per working day for profile markings.
How do profile pavement markings get measured?
As one marking, including both the stripe and the raised profile, whether it went down in one pass or two.
How long am I responsible for markings after installation?
At least 30 calendar days. Anything that fails gets replaced within 30 days of notice, and the replacement carries its own 30-day obligation.
Is this pricing data free to use?
Yes. Every bid item pricing page linked above is free, no account needed.