TxDOT Sign Submittals: The Complete Overview

Cities, counties and private contractors, more and more, are finding themselves working with TxDOT when putting up wayfinding signage or when modifying guide signs.  The rules and regulations that govern what type of signs, what materials and what graphic elements are allowed can be confusing.  Additionally, getting your design approved through the TxDOT Submittal process requires a very specific set of drawings that detail: colors, fonts, spacing, borders and materials used.

TxDOT Submittal Process Overview

With over half a century of experience providing signage on TxDOT projects, Campbell’s can help you get your signs drawn up and made to TxDOT standards.  We have done literally thousands of sign submittals and gotten all of them approved for signs going in TxDOT’s right of way.

TxDOT is looking for a few very specific details when reviewing TxDOT submittals for signs.

• • The overall sign size.  Usually, the outside dimensions must be in 6 inch increments.
  • The font type and size.  These are usually guided by the TMUTCD  and the  Standard Highway Sign Designs for Texas (SHSD)  
  • Element spacing.
  • The border size and placement.  
  • The color of the background and color of the legend and border.
  • Finally, the materials to be used in manufacturing the sign.  These need to meet the Material Requirements that govern the particular sign.

All of these are laid out in a one page drawing per sign and emailed to the customer or directly to the TxDOT engineer responsible for the area.

TxDot Submittal Approval Timeline

You should expect that the engineer will need three to eight working days to review and either approve the drawings or send them back with notes for the modifications that they would like to see.

It’s very rare that this process takes more than two tries.  In fact, most of our drawings are approved on the first go.  Occasionally, especially when the signs have logos involved this process may take two or three tries.  Also, the TxDOT engineers sometimes get busy and there can be a delay in getting the drawings back from them or they may need multiple people to sign off on them, for the most part though, they are very prompt.  You should plan on this process taking from three to four weeks from the start of drawings until final approval.

TxDOT Sign Submittals are an important part of getting your signs approved for placement in TxDOT right of ways.  They help TxDOT maintain the look and feel of the information systems on their roadways and insure that the signs will perform as required and hold up to our harsh Texas weather.