Billing Lane Closures, Flaggers, TMAs and Queue Trucks by the Shift

On most lane closure jobs, four resources make up the bill: the closure itself, the flaggers, the truck-mounted attenuator (TMA) and the queue trucks. Each one costs you something different, carries a different risk, and is usually counted in a different unit. A company that prices them as one lump per day will either lose money on the long days or lose bids on the short ones.

This post covers how each resource is usually billed, what to define in the rate sheet so the ticket can be counted without argument, and how one signed ticket turns into one invoice. It describes common practice, not a standard. Your contract and the prime's bid items decide what you can charge and how.

Why the four are billed separately

On federal-aid highway projects, FHWA's rule on temporary traffic control, 23 CFR 630.1108(f), says payment for work zone traffic control should not be incidental to the contract, and that at a minimum separate pay items should be provided for major categories of traffic control devices, safety features and work zone safety activities. It also says unit price payment should be used for items whose quantity the contractor has little or no control over.

Subcontracts often follow the prime's bid items, so the structure you are paid under may already be set before you price anything. Our post on lump sum vs unit price bid items explains who carries the risk under each. The rest of this post assumes you bill each resource as its own line, because that is what lets a reviewer match your invoice to their pay items.

Lane closures

A lane closure line pays for the setup: the devices in the plan, placing them, keeping them in place, and taking them down. It is usually counted per closure per shift.

What to define:

• What is included. Which devices, how many, and whether an arrow board or a message board is part of the closure or a separate line.
• What a shift is. A number of hours, and what happens past it.
• Day versus night. Some rate sheets price night closures differently because labor, lighting and risk are different at night.
• Extra devices. A plan that calls for more than the standard package needs a price for the extras before the job, not after.

The risk on a lane closure is scope creep. A closure that grows by twenty drums and a second taper is a different closure, and it should be counted as one.

Flaggers

Flaggers are labor, and labor is your largest cost. They are usually billed per person per shift, or per hour with a minimum. Section 6D.01 of the MUTCD says flaggers should be trained in proper traffic control practices and public contact techniques, and lists the abilities they should be able to demonstrate (MUTCD 11th Edition, Section 6D.01). Training, wages, payroll taxes, insurance and the time a flagger spends traveling all belong in the rate. Our post on the loaded cost of a flagger hour walks through the arithmetic.

What to define:

• The unit: per flagger per shift, or per flagger hour.
• The minimum: a short job still takes a person out of the schedule for the day.
• Overtime: when it starts and what it costs the customer.
• Travel: whether time to and from a distant site is billed.

Truck-mounted attenuators

A TMA is the most expensive thing on most lane closures and the one most likely to be hit. Section 6M.05 of the MUTCD describes truck-mounted attenuators as energy-absorbing devices attached to the rear of shadow trailers or trucks, to be used according to the manufacturer's specifications. It also requires crash cushions to be inspected periodically and damaged ones to be repaired or replaced promptly (MUTCD 11th Edition, Section 6M.05).

That last requirement is a billing issue as much as a safety one. After a hit, the unit is out of service until it is repaired or replaced, and the repair is expensive. Your rate sheet or contract should say who pays when a TMA is struck on the customer's job, and how it is billed.

TMAs are usually billed per truck per shift, with the operator included. If you price the operator separately, say so, and count both on the ticket. Our post on truck-mounted attenuators covers how they are used.

Queue trucks

When a lane closure reduces capacity, traffic can back up past the advance warning signs. Section 6N.13 of the MUTCD says an assessment of the expected queue length should be part of the traffic control plan design for freeway and expressway work, with adjustments to sign spacing and the possible use of more conspicuous devices (MUTCD 11th Edition, Section 6N.13). A common way to handle the back of the queue is with a truck posted upstream of the stopped traffic, with lights or a sign, that moves as the queue grows and shrinks.

Queue trucks are usually billed per truck per shift. What to define is when one is needed and who decides. If the prime asks for a second queue truck at 2 a.m. because the queue reached the interchange, you want that request written on the ticket.

Minimums, standby and the rest of the rate sheet

Four lines do not cover every hour. Crews get cancelled on arrival, held on site, or released early. Our post on pricing standby and show-up time covers how to put minimums, show-up pay and cancellation windows in the rate sheet before the argument starts. Mobilization for distant or one-time jobs has its own logic, covered in pricing mobilization.

The rule that ties all of it together: every charge on the invoice should trace to a count on the signed ticket, in a unit the rate sheet defines.

A worked example

Here is how one night shift on a single closure might look. The rates are made up to show the arithmetic. They are not market rates or a recommendation.

• Lane closure (LC): 1 unit at $1,500 = $1,500
• Flagging (FL): 2 units at $480 = $960
• TMA: 1 unit at $650 = $650
• Queue truck: 1 unit at $550 = $550

Total before tax: $3,660. Each figure on the invoice traces back to a count on the ticket, and each count traces to a unit in the rate sheet. If the customer questions the flagging line, the answer is two flaggers on the ticket, both named in the trucks and crew section, for the shift the start and stop times show.

From one signed ticket to one draft invoice

In Traffic OS, the daily ticket has a billing row for each of the four resources: lane closure (LC), flagging (FL), truck-mounted attenuator (TMA) and queue trucks. Each row holds a unit count and a rate. The customer signs the ticket on the phone or tablet, and Traffic OS stores the signer's name, the time and the GPS position with the signed PDF.

When the office is ready to bill, one click turns the signed ticket into a draft invoice with one line for each billing row that has units and a rate. Each line names the resource, the units, the rate and the ticket number, so the customer can match it to the signed ticket. The office can add lines to the draft by hand before sending it. Three things to know:

• Units are whole numbers. Decide what a unit is (a shift, a day, a closure) in the rate sheet. Anything that does not fit, such as overtime hours or extra devices, goes on a line added by hand.
• One ticket, one invoice. Traffic OS makes one invoice from each signed ticket. It does not combine several tickets into one invoice.
• The draft is reviewed first. Nothing goes to the customer until someone in the office sends it.

See the daily ticket and invoicing features, or book a walkthrough to see a ticket become an invoice on a real account. For the wider picture, our post on automating invoices from job tickets covers what has to be true about the ticket before any of it works.

A short checklist

• Every resource has a defined unit in the rate sheet.
• Every unit has a minimum, an overtime rule and a night rule, or a written "none".
• The ticket counts each resource in that unit, with zeros written in.
• Who pays for a struck TMA is in the contract.
• Requests for extra trucks or devices are written on the ticket when they are made.
• Every invoice line traces to a signed count.