TxDOT Item 682 Vehicle and Pedestrian Signal Heads: Bid Code Spec, Pricing and Section-Level Measurement
Item 682 pays for fabricating, furnishing, and installing signal heads, and for taking existing ones out. The bid codes read like signal heads. They aren't. This item measures by the section, and a standard red, yellow, green face is three sections, three separate pay units. Add a green arrow and it's four. At the averages below, that ordinary three-color face runs a little over a thousand dollars, not the $351 the green code shows. Here are the 7 bid codes that show up most in recent TxDOT lettings, what separates one from the next, and why removal on this item works differently than on almost anything else you'll bid.
TxDOT Item 682 Bid Code Variants: What Determines Pricing
Start with the spec's own definitions, because the whole pricing question sits inside them:
"Signal Section. One housing case, housing door, visor, and optical unit."
"Signal Face. One section or an assembly of two or more sections facing one direction."
"Signal Head. A unidirectional face or a multidirectional assembly of faces, including back plates and louvers when required, attached at a common location on a support."
Section, then face, then head, each one built from the one before it. And here's what gets measured:
"This Item will be measured by each vehicle signal section, pedestrian signal section, back plate, louver, or head assembly installed or removed."
Four things decide what you're pricing:
- Section, not head. Every vehicle code in this data is a section code. One housing, one visor, one optical unit, one color. A three-color face is three of them. This is the number one place to get Item 682 wrong, and it's covered in detail in payment terms below.
- Vehicle or pedestrian. Two different material specs, DMS-11121 for the twelve-inch vehicle lamp unit and DMS-11131 for pedestrian LED countdown modules, both prequalified off the Department's MPL. The pricing gap between them is the widest in this data.
- Ball or arrow, on vehicle sections. Every color here comes in both. The arrow versions carry a consistent premium.
- Whether you're installing or removing. The measurement article says "installed or removed" and the payment article gives each its own compensation clause. Removal isn't subsidiary here and it isn't sent to another item. It's a priced line under the same names.
And one thing that isn't in the code at all: material. The spec lets you use aluminum or polycarbonate, then constrains you hard on consistency:
"Supply either aluminum or polycarbonate signal head components of the same material and manufacturer for any one project."
Same material and the same manufacturer across the whole project. The bid code doesn't tell you which one, so that cost difference lives inside the same number.
One naming note. Clarement says bid item throughout. TxDOT's own contracts and this spec say pay item, so both point at the same thing and people search both.
TxDOT Item 682 Pricing: Key Takeaways
- A signal section is one color, not one head. A standard red, yellow, green face is three pay units at roughly $350 each, not one.
- Back plates and louvers are their own pay items, even though the spec's definition of a signal head says a head includes them.
- Removal is a priced line, not subsidiary work. Same names, its own unit price, its own compensation clause.
- Removal drags in cable work with no separate line, including pulling unused signal cable and trimming back live conductors.
- One material and one manufacturer for the whole project. A mid-project sourcing change isn't available to you.
- Color barely moves the price. The arrow does. Ball sections sit within 1% of each other, arrows run about 5% to 7% above the matching ball.
Cost Factors for TxDOT Item 682 Vehicle and Pedestrian Signal Heads
Cost Factors That Vary by Bid Code
Vehicle against pedestrian. Different DMS spec, different device. A pedestrian countdown module is a display with a timer, not a lamp unit, and it prices near three times a vehicle section in this data.
Ball against arrow. Same size housing, different optical unit. The premium is consistent across all three colors below, which makes it one of the cleaner single-variable comparisons in this data.
Color. Red, yellow, and green all appear in both ball and arrow form. The pricing shows how little this actually moves.
Cost Factors That Apply to Every TxDOT Item 682 Bid Code
MPL prequalification on both device families. Vehicle heads per DMS-11121, pedestrian heads per DMS-11131, both from the Department's MPL. This isn't catalog hardware you source on price alone.
The single-source constraint is a schedule risk, not just a procurement preference. One material and one manufacturer across the project means a backorder or a discontinued line partway through doesn't have an easy substitution path. Confirm availability across the full project quantity before you commit to a number.
Hardware and corrosion requirements. Galvanized steel, stainless steel, or dichromate sealed aluminum for bolts, nuts, washers, lock washers, screws, and assembly hardware. Where dissimilar metals meet, the spec requires them selected or insulated to prevent corrosion. Gaskets are closed-cell silicone or closed-cell neoprene.
Wiring method is prescribed, not left to the crew.
"Use solderless wire connectors or binding screws and spade lugs for connections to terminal blocks. Use binding screws and spade lugs for field wiring."
Field wiring specifically is binding screws and spade lugs. Not connectors, not a choice. The spec also requires maintaining color coding on leads from the individual optical units throughout the head, and holding off on stripping the traffic signal cable until it reaches the termination location.
A drip loop is required. Passing between signal hardware, as shown on the plans or as directed. Small detail, but it's a spec'd requirement rather than good practice.
Assembled heads have to be sealed. Any opening in an assembled signal head gets closed with a plug of the same material and color as the head. That's a finish requirement on every install.
TxDOT Item 682 Payment Terms: Subsidiary Work vs. Separately Paid Items
The pay item list is where the section-versus-head question gets answered:
"will be paid for at the unit price bid for the installation or removal of the 'Pedestrian Signal Section,' 'Vehicle Signal Section,' 'Back Plate,' 'Louver,' or 'Head Assembly,' of the types and sizes specified"
Five named pay items. Note that Signal Section and Head Assembly both appear on that list, as separate things. So a single physical signal can generate several lines on a bid tab, and the section codes in this data are the smallest unit in that stack.
Work through what that means on an ordinary intersection approach. A standard three-color vehicle face is one red section, one yellow section, and one green section. That's three pay units. Give it a protected left turn and you're at four, or five if the arrow phase needs its own yellow. Then the back plate is another line and a louver, where required, is another. At the averages in the pricing table below, three sections alone come to about $1,058. If your estimate carried one $351 line for that face, you're short by roughly two-thirds of the actual number before you've priced the back plate.
The back plate and louver treatment is worth pausing on, because the spec's own definition of a signal head bundles them:
"Signal Head. A unidirectional face or a multidirectional assembly of faces, including back plates and louvers when required, attached at a common location on a support."
Including back plates and louvers when required. The definition folds them in. The payment article pulls them back out as separate named pay items. So a definition that reads like bundled scope is not a payment instruction, which is the same distinction Item 540 carries between its material cross-reference and where the curb actually gets paid.
Removal is a real pay item here, and that's unusual across this family of specs.
"Removal. This price is full compensation for removing, salvaging, disassembling, and stockpiling vehicle or pedestrian signal head components removed as shown on the plans or as directed."
Its own clause, its own compensation, priced under the same five names as installation. Compare that to how differently removal gets handled nearby. Item 672 folds marker removal into the install price as one number. Item 677 excludes RPM removal from its own scope entirely. Item 644 prices install, relocate, and remove as three separate actions, which is the closest match to what 682 does. Removal treatment is item-specific every time, so read the payment article rather than carrying an assumption over from the last job.
And removal bundles more than it sounds like. The construction article adds scope that the payment clause doesn't itemize:
"When the removed item leaves an opening, cover the opening with similar material to an equivalent condition. When the removed item leaves an unused signal cable, remove the cable. When the removed item leaves unused conductors within a signal cable still in use, trim back and tape off to ensure no electrical shorts by unused conductors."
Pulling a head can mean pulling cable, working inside a cable that's still live in service, and patching an opening back to equivalent condition. None of that has a line of its own under Item 682. Conductor payment boundaries are set by whichever item covers the conductor, which Item 620 handles at length, so confirm what's carrying the new cable on your job before assuming the removal scope here is limited to the head itself.
TxDOT Item 682 Quality Gates and Placement Requirements
Item 682 has no testing requirement, no acceptance procedure, and no performance period. There's no insulation resistance test like Item 620 carries and no 30-day obligation like Item 672 carries. Nothing gets measured after the fact. Your exposure is in the assembly and in the salvage handling, both at the time of the work.
Assembly has to produce a rigid face.
"Assemble individual signal sections in multi-section faces in conformance with the manufacturer's recommendations to form a rigid signal face."
Rigid is the standard, and the method is whatever the manufacturer says. Which is another reason the single-manufacturer constraint matters, since your crew is working to one set of recommendations across the project rather than several.
Salvage handling is where the money risk sits.
"Ensure the items designated for salvage are removed in a manner to avoid undue stress or damage."
Signal heads designated for salvage are the Department's property coming back in working order. Damage during removal on a device worth several hundred dollars a section is not a small write-off, and the spec puts the standard on your removal method.
Field wiring method is a gate of its own, since binding screws and spade lugs are required rather than offered as one option. A field connection made with solderless connectors doesn't meet the spec even though the same connectors are allowed at terminal blocks.
Pricing Considerations for Signal Head Work
- Count sections, not heads, and count back plates and louvers as their own lines on top.
- Price removal against its full scope, cable pull, conductor trim and tape, and opening closure included.
- Carry the single-manufacturer constraint as procurement risk, priced across the full project quantity rather than the first order.
- Price salvage removal slower than demolition removal, since undue stress or damage on a salvaged head is a replacement you own.
- Confirm aluminum or polycarbonate before pricing, since the bid code doesn't distinguish them and you're locked to one for the project.
TxDOT Item 682 Bid Item Pricing Data
Weighted average unit price across TxDOT lettings over the last 24 months, both across every bid submitted and on the low, winning bid specifically. Each code links to its full pricing page, where you can see the spread by competitor, district, and quantity.
Pricing Analysis: Key Cost Comparisons Across TxDOT Item 682
The six vehicle codes form a clean grid, three colors crossed with ball and arrow, so every comparison inside it changes one variable.
Color moves almost nothing.
The three ball sections sit inside $3.20 of each other, under 1% top to bottom. The arrows spread a little wider at 2.4%, with red arrow the highest of the six. If you're carrying different numbers by color on ball sections, this data says the market doesn't.
The arrow premium is consistent and it's the real variable.
Roughly a 5% to 7% step, same direction every time. Same housing, different optical unit, and the market prices that difference steadily rather than treating arrows as a specialty item.
A pedestrian countdown section prices near three times a vehicle section. At $992.90 against a $352.73 average across the three vehicle balls, that's about 2.8 times. It's a different device under a different DMS spec, so this isn't a like-for-like comparison, but it's the number to have in mind when a plan sheet mixes vehicle and pedestrian quantities. Pedestrian sections carry far more dollars per count than the vehicle sections around them.
What a full face actually costs, at these averages.
That's the arithmetic behind the measurement basis, and it's the number worth carrying out of this guide. Those totals are illustrative, built by adding the published averages for each section, not a quoted price for a face. But they show the size of the error if a section code gets read as a head.
Low-bid gaps are tight and uniform on the vehicle codes, and much wider on pedestrian. The six vehicle codes all land between 7.0% and 8.4%, a remarkably narrow band across six separate codes. The pedestrian countdown sits at 17.9%, more than double any of them. There's roughly twice as much room between a safe number and a winning number on pedestrian sections as there is on vehicle sections, and a single markup applied across both would leave that on the table.
Executing TxDOT Item 682: Avoiding Rework and Ensuring Payment
Same spec, laid out as things to actually do on the job.
Rework Triggers Under TxDOT Item 682
- Salvage-designated heads removed with undue stress or damage
- Multi-section faces assembled without forming a rigid face
- Openings in an assembled head left unplugged, or plugged with the wrong material or color
- Field wiring made with solderless connectors instead of binding screws and spade lugs
- Color coding on optical unit leads not maintained through the head
- Traffic signal cable stripped before it reaches the termination location
- Dissimilar metals used without selection or insulation against corrosion
- Signal head components mixed across materials or manufacturers on one project
- Unused conductors left untrimmed or untaped inside a cable still in service
Field Compliance Requirements for TxDOT Item 682
- Source vehicle heads per DMS-11121 and pedestrian heads per DMS-11131, both from the MPL
- Keep to one material and one manufacturer across the entire project
- Assemble to the manufacturer's recommendations to form a rigid face
- Mount heads, louvers, and back plates as shown on the plans or per the manufacturer
- Wire each optical unit to the terminal block in its own section
- Install a drip loop where cable passes between signal hardware
- Cover openings left by removed items with similar material to equivalent condition
- Remove unused signal cable left behind by a removal
Pay Application Requirements for TxDOT Item 682
- Bill by section, not by head, on every vehicle and pedestrian line
- Invoice back plates and louvers as their own lines, even though the head definition includes them
- Bill removal against its own unit price, since it's a priced pay item here rather than subsidiary
- Don't invoice cable removal, conductor trimming, or opening closure separately, they're inside the removal price
- Confirm whether a Head Assembly line applies in addition to section lines, since both are named pay items in the same list
Built for people pricing and executing TxDOT signal head work
Frequently asked questions about TxDOT Item 682
What is TxDOT Item 682, Vehicle and Pedestrian Signal Heads?
The TxDOT spec for fabricating, furnishing, and installing vehicle and pedestrian signal heads, and for removing existing ones. It covers the material standards, assembly and wiring requirements, and the section-level measurement basis.
How is Item 682 measured?
By each vehicle signal section, pedestrian signal section, back plate, louver, or head assembly, installed or removed. Not by the head as a whole.
What's the difference between a signal section, a signal face, and a signal head?
A section is one housing case, housing door, visor, and optical unit. A face is one section or several sections facing the same direction. A head is a unidirectional face or an assembly of faces at a common location on a support, including back plates and louvers where required.
How many pay units is a standard three-color signal?
Three sections, one each for red, yellow, and green, plus separate lines for a back plate or louver where those apply. At the averages in this data, the three sections alone come to about $1,058.
Are back plates and louvers included in the signal head price?
No. They're separately named pay items, even though the spec's definition of a signal head describes a head as including them where required.
Is removing an existing signal head paid for?
Yes. Removal is a priced pay item under the same names as installation, with its own compensation clause covering removing, salvaging, disassembling, and stockpiling.
Does removal include the cable?
Yes, without a separate line. When a removal leaves unused signal cable, you remove it. When it leaves unused conductors inside a cable still in use, you trim them back and tape them off. You also cover any opening the removal leaves, back to equivalent condition.
Can I mix aluminum and polycarbonate signal heads on one project?
No. The spec requires either aluminum or polycarbonate components of the same material and the same manufacturer for any one project.
Is this pricing data free to use?
Yes. Every bid item pricing page linked above is free, no account needed.