For project managers and contractors bidding on Asphalt Resurfacing Projects in BC, developing a Traffic Management Plan estimate can be difficult when the tender provides detailed construction quantities but combines the traffic-management responsibility into one lump-sum bid item. The amount cannot be estimated accurately by looking at the Traffic Management line alone.
The Schedule 7 tender example reviewed for this article shows this clearly. Traffic Management appears as Item 02.01, Lump Sum, approximate quantity 1.00, while the remaining tender contains substantial quantities for milling, asphalt paving, shoulder work, concrete roadside barriers, drainage, joint sealant, pavement markings, and other construction activities. Each of those operations can influence the type, duration, and number of traffic-control arrangements needed during construction.
A useful Traffic Management Plan estimate should therefore connect the tender quantities with the contractor’s proposed staging, production schedule, work-zone requirements, anticipated traffic-control arrangements, labour, equipment, and planning requirements. This article explains how project managers can build that estimate before entering the final Traffic Management amount into Schedule 7.
What Is a Traffic Management Plan Estimate for an Asphalt Resurfacing Bid?
A Traffic Management Plan estimate is the contractor’s assessment of the traffic-management resources and costs likely to be required while the project is being constructed. It considers how construction will interact with live traffic and what traffic-control planning and field arrangements may be necessary throughout the work.
For Asphalt Resurfacing Projects in BC, this can involve several different activities rather than one continuous paving operation. Milling may occur before paving. Distressed pavement repairs may be completed separately. Shoulder restoration, barrier work, drainage, joint sealing, and pavement markings may continue after the primary paving operation has moved to another section.
The supplied Schedule 7 illustrates the estimating challenge. Section 2 – Traffic Management contains only one item: Item 02.01 Traffic Management, measured as a Lump Sum with an approximate quantity of 1.00. The schedule does not separately identify quantities for traffic-control personnel, supervision, individual traffic-control layouts, signs, channelizing devices, setup changes, or the number of shifts requiring traffic control. The estimator therefore has to determine what sits behind that single price.
The Province of British Columbia describes the Schedule of Approximate Quantities and Unit Prices as the tool used to produce Schedule 7 required to tender construction contracts. The Ministry’s Conditions of Tender also explain that the approximate quantities shown in Schedule 7 are estimates.
For the project manager, this means Schedule 7 provides the bidding framework, but the underlying Traffic Management Plan estimate still needs to be developed from the actual project scope.
Why the Entire Schedule 7 Matters When Building the Estimate
The Traffic Management line is only one part of the tender. The construction quantities elsewhere in Schedule 7 provide important clues about how much traffic-management effort may be required.
Section 1 of the supplied tender includes Mobilization and Quality Management as separate Lump Sum items, together with a $50,000 Provisional Sum for Site Modifications and a $5,000 Diesel Fuel Price Adjustment. Because these items are separately identified, estimators should not assume that costs associated with Traffic Management can automatically be recovered through another tender line.
The applicable measurement-and-payment provisions, specifications, Special Provisions, drawings, and addenda should establish which costs belong under Item 02.01.
The physical construction quantities then provide the basis for understanding project duration and staging. The tender contains 4,137 m² of milled tie-ins and 33,180 m² of 50 mm cold milling in distressed areas. Shoulder work includes approximately 51,550 m of shoulder stripping and 3,519 tonnes of shouldering material.
The paving scope is substantial. The schedule includes 77,934 litres of tack coat, 4,000 tonnes of level-course asphalt, 3,985 tonnes of distressed-area paving, and 39,604 tonnes of top-lift asphalt.
This is important because the Traffic Management Plan estimate should respond to the anticipated duration of those operations. Tens of thousands of tonnes of paving may represent many construction shifts. Traffic management may need to be installed, moved, adjusted, inspected, and removed repeatedly as the paving operation progresses.
The same tender also includes significant roadside barrier work. Approximately 328 m of existing concrete roadside barrier is to be removed and disposed of, while another 2,834 m is to be removed, stockpiled, and replaced. The schedule also contains 140 new 690 mm H+E units, additional CDB-E, CTB-1E and CBN-H components, and 227 barrier reflectors.
Drainage work includes approximately 2,335 m of asphalt curb removal, 2,335 m of integral asphalt curb, 60 asphalt spillways, and 550 m of pipe outfall. Joint sealing and pavement markings create additional stages that may continue after the primary resurfacing work.
A project manager developing a Traffic Management Plan estimate should therefore read Schedule 7 as a connected construction program rather than a collection of independent bid items.
How Construction Quantities Affect the Traffic Management Plan Estimate
Construction quantities become useful for traffic-management estimating when they are converted into likely construction stages and production shifts.
The objective is not to predict the exact construction schedule months in advance. The objective is to develop a reasonable basis for estimating how long different traffic-control arrangements may be required.
The Province’s 2020 Traffic Management Manual for Work on Roadways establishes traffic-management and traffic-control principles for work on roadways and includes specific guidance for different work-zone conditions. Importantly for this tender, the manual includes a section covering milling, paving and sealcoating.
Milling Operations and the Traffic Management Plan
The tender includes 4,137 m² of milled tie-ins and 33,180 m² of distressed-area cold milling. These quantities should be converted into an anticipated number of milling shifts based on the contractor’s own production assumptions. The estimator should also consider how the milling operation will move through the project. Continuous milling along a highway may have different traffic-management implications from several isolated distressed areas. Intersections, driveway access, truck movements, lane widths, machine movement, and the location of the work relative to live traffic can all affect the required traffic-control arrangement.
If the milling operation advances over several kilometres, traffic control may also need to advance with the work. That means the estimate should consider not only the time traffic control is in operation but also the effort required to relocate or reconfigure the setup. The Traffic Management Plan estimate should therefore identify milling as its own construction stage unless the project documents and proposed work method clearly support combining it with another operation.
Asphalt Paving and Expected Production Shifts
Paving generally represents one of the most significant duration drivers in a resurfacing project. The Schedule 7 example includes 4,000 tonnes of level course, 3,985 tonnes of distressed-area paving, and 39,604 tonnes of top lift. Together, those three paving items represent approximately 47,589 tonnes of asphalt. A project manager can use the company’s expected paving production rate to convert those quantities into approximate shifts.
For example, if the contractor internally expects to place approximately 1,000 tonnes during a productive paving shift, the 39,604 tonnes of top lift alone would represent roughly 40 shifts. That figure is only an estimating example and is not a prescribed production rate. Actual production will depend on plant output, haul distance, paving width, roadway configuration, work-hour restrictions, weather, truck availability, staging, and other project-specific conditions.
The value of the calculation is that it connects construction production with the Traffic Management Plan estimate. If the bid carries traffic-control resources for 25 shifts while the contractor’s own paving estimate indicates approximately 40 shifts, the discrepancy should be investigated before tender closing. Traffic-management time should also not automatically equal paving-production time. Traffic-control personnel may need to arrive before paving equipment enters the work zone and remain after production finishes so the roadway can be safely reopened or the temporary arrangement can be changed.
Shoulder Work After Resurfacing
The tender includes approximately 51.55 km of shoulder stripping and 3,519 tonnes of shouldering material. Shoulder restoration may occur after a resurfacing stage has been completed. Depending on the roadway and work method, the operation may require a shoulder closure, lane restriction, mobile work arrangement, or another traffic-control configuration. This work can therefore extend the duration of the Traffic Management Plan beyond the main asphalt placement.
The estimator should determine whether shoulder work can operate under the same arrangement already anticipated for paving or whether it needs a separate traffic-control stage. If the contractor expects several days or weeks of shoulder work following the top lift, those shifts should be reflected in the estimate.
Concrete Roadside Barrier Work
Roadside barrier work deserves separate attention because it can affect available lane width, worker exposure, work-zone protection, and the distance between construction activity and live traffic. The supplied Schedule 7 contains approximately 328 m of barrier removal and disposal and 2,834 m of barrier removal, stockpiling, and replacement, together with new barrier components.
The estimator should identify where those barriers occur and determine whether the work can reasonably take place under the same traffic-control arrangement used for resurfacing. If the barrier operation requires a different closure, additional protection, a shorter work area, or another construction stage, that difference needs to appear in the Traffic Management Plan estimate.
Drainage, Joint Sealant and Pavement Markings
The tender also includes 2,335 m of asphalt curb removal, 2,335 m of integral asphalt curb, 60 asphalt spillways, 550 m of pipe outfall, 3,462 litres of supplied joint sealant, and 4,616 litres of applied joint sealant. These activities are smaller than the main paving quantities, but they should not be dismissed when estimating traffic management. They may require workers and equipment to occupy areas next to live traffic after the resurfacing operation has progressed.
Pavement Markings is also shown as a separate Lump Sum construction item. The B.C. Traffic Management Manual contains guidance for pavement-marking operations as well as other mobile and roadway work scenarios.
The practical estimating lesson is straightforward: Traffic Management should follow the complete construction schedule, not just the paving schedule.
What Should Be Included in a Traffic Management Plan Estimate?
Once the project has been divided into construction stages, the estimator can start identifying the components that may need to be included in the Traffic Management lump sum.
The first component is the Traffic Management Plan and related traffic-control documentation. Depending on the tender requirements and project category, this may include project-specific Traffic Control Plans, traffic-management staging, different layouts for changing construction conditions, revisions as the staging develops, and other supporting documentation required by the contract. The B.C. Traffic Management Manual provides the framework used for traffic-management and traffic-control planning on provincial roadway work. The Ministry also publishes updates to the 2020 manual, so the estimator should verify the current manual and applicable updates rather than relying on an older project example.
The second component is the expected field traffic-control requirement. The exact resources depend on the final plan and contract, but the estimate may need to account for traffic-control personnel, supervision, signs, channelizing devices, barricades, arrow boards, temporary barriers, support vehicles, device inspection, setup, removal, and relocation. The required resources should come from the site conditions and applicable traffic-control arrangements rather than from a generic assumption that every paving project uses the same crew and equipment.
WorkSafeBC Part 18 requires employers to ensure effective traffic control is provided whenever traffic could be hazardous to a worker. The regulation also addresses traffic-control responsibilities and supervision. Planning, field traffic control, and project duration therefore need to be considered together when establishing the estimate. If the tender contains one Traffic Management lump sum, define the required Traffic Management Plan and construction stages before finalizing the price.
How to Calculate Labour and Duration for the Estimate
Traffic-control labour is one of the areas where an underestimated duration can quickly affect the lump-sum price.
A useful estimating relationship is:
Traffic-Control Labour Cost = Required Personnel × Paid Hours per Shift × Number of Traffic-Control Shifts × Applicable Labour Rate
This is an internal estimating formula rather than a Ministry payment formula, but it helps project managers organize the calculation. Suppose a resurfacing stage is expected to require 30 construction shifts. If the anticipated traffic-control arrangement requires several field personnel plus supervision, the estimate should calculate the full labour requirement across those 30 shifts. The estimator should then check whether the traffic-control shift is longer than the productive construction shift. Setup may begin before the milling machine or paver enters the work area, while removal or reconfiguration can continue after production stops.
The same exercise should be repeated for different construction stages whenever their traffic-control requirements differ. Milling may require one crew configuration. Mainline paving may require another. Barrier work, drainage, shoulder restoration, or pavement marking may have different durations or traffic impacts. Project managers should also account for applicable overtime, night premiums, travel, accommodation where required, supervision, setup and teardown time, and other project-specific labour costs supported by the tender and subcontractor pricing.
Developing those components separately makes the overall Traffic Management Plan estimate easier to review and defend before bid closing.
Common Traffic Management Plan Estimating Mistakes on BC Resurfacing Projects
One common mistake is estimating Traffic Management as a fixed percentage of the asphalt value. Historical percentages can be useful as a final comparison against similar projects, but they should not replace a project-specific takeoff. Two Asphalt Resurfacing Projects in BC can contain similar paving quantities while having very different traffic-management costs because their road geometry, posted speed, traffic volumes, intersections, project length, work hours, lane availability, staging, and construction productivity are different.
Another problem is developing the Traffic Management Plan estimate only around the paving operation. The supplied Schedule 7 shows why this can create a gap. The project also contains milling, shoulder stripping, shouldering, roadside barrier work, drainage, joint sealing, project signs, and pavement markings. Some of those activities may continue after the main paving crew has moved through the area.
A third mistake is assuming that one traffic-control arrangement will cover the whole project. The B.C. Traffic Management Manual contains different guidance and layouts for different roadway and work-zone conditions, including milling, paving, mobile work, intersections, multilane roads, two-lane roads, and pavement marking. The correct number of project-specific plans and configurations depends on the actual project, but the estimator should not assume one setup without first reviewing the construction sequence.
Another risk is ignoring current Standard Specifications, Special Provisions, drawings, and addenda. The Province confirms that the 2025 Standard Specifications for Highway Construction were adopted on February 1, 2025, and the Ministry continues to publish amendments. Project-specific tender documentation can also modify or add requirements.
Finally, project managers should not treat separately identified provisional sums as a general buffer for Traffic Management. In the supplied tender, Site Modifications, Diesel Fuel Price Adjustment, and EPS Pavement Adjustments appear separately. Whether any particular cost can be recovered through those mechanisms depends on the contract and should not be assumed during bid preparation.
Before submitting the tender, reconcile the Traffic Management Plan estimate against the work sequence, quantities, drawings, Special Provisions, and applicable BC requirements.
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How to Build a Traffic Management Plan Estimate Before Bid Closing
A practical estimate can be developed by starting with the construction quantities and working toward the traffic-management requirements.
First, review Schedule 7 and identify every activity likely to affect traffic. In the supplied example, those activities include milling, tack coat, asphalt paving, shoulder stripping, shouldering, roadside barrier work, drainage, joint sealing, pavement marking, and project signage.
Next, review the tender drawings and project limits. Determine the roadway configuration and where each major construction activity will occur. A two-lane highway, divided highway, multilane urban corridor, intersection approach, or shoulder operation can create different traffic-control requirements.
The project manager should then develop the proposed construction sequence. This sequence might include distressed-area milling, pavement repairs, level course, main resurfacing, shoulder restoration, barrier work, drainage finishing, and pavement markings. The actual sequence should reflect the contractor’s means and methods and the requirements of the tender.
Once the sequence is established, identify the likely traffic-management arrangement for each stage. Some activities may be able to use the same configuration. Others may require a different setup because the work location, lane impact, or traffic exposure changes. The bid quantities can then be divided by realistic production rates to estimate the number of construction shifts. The purpose is not to create a final project schedule at the estimating stage, but to determine whether the Traffic Management allowance is consistent with the contractor’s expected production. The estimator can then calculate the likely planning effort, labour, supervision, devices, equipment, setup, removal, relocation, and stage-change costs.
A useful internal framework is:
Traffic Management Plan Estimate = TMP/TCP Preparation + Field Labour + Supervision + Traffic-Control Devices and Equipment + Setup/Removal/Relocation + Stage Changes + Applicable Project-Specific Costs
This formula is only an estimating framework. The particular contract’s measurement-and-payment provisions determine what should ultimately be carried under the Traffic Management Lump Sum item. Before the price is finalized, compare the result with similar completed projects as a reasonableness check. If the project-specific estimate differs materially from historical traffic-management percentages or subcontractor pricing, determine why rather than simply forcing the estimate back toward the historical number.
BC Requirements to Review When Preparing the Traffic Management Plan Estimate
For provincial roadway projects, the 2020 Traffic Management Manual for Work on Roadways should be one of the main references used when understanding the likely traffic-management scope. The Province states that the manual establishes fundamental principles and guidelines for traffic management and traffic control with the goal of protecting workers and supporting the safe and efficient movement of road users through work zones.
The manual is especially relevant to this topic because it specifically addresses milling, paving, sealcoating, pavement marking, channelizing devices, and different roadway configurations. These sections help project managers understand why the Traffic Management Plan may need to account for more than one construction condition during a resurfacing contract. WorkSafeBC requirements also need to be considered. Under Part 18 – Traffic Control, an employer must ensure effective traffic control is provided and implemented whenever traffic could be hazardous to a worker.
For the estimator, this reinforces an important point: field traffic control is not simply an optional allowance that can be reduced without considering the actual work-zone requirements.
The Ministry’s current Standard Specifications for Highway Construction should also be reviewed together with the project’s Special Provisions. The Province states that the 2025 Standard Specifications were adopted February 1, 2025, and provides ongoing amendments to those specifications. Schedule 7 itself should be reviewed in the context of the Ministry’s tender documentation. The Province identifies it as the Schedule of Approximate Quantities and Unit Prices, and Ministry BC Bid guidance provides Schedule 7 resources for transportation tenders.
If the asphalt resurfacing work is being performed on a municipal road rather than a provincial highway, the project manager should also determine what additional municipality-specific traffic-management, permit, submission, or working-hour requirements apply. The road authority should therefore be identified before the Traffic Management Plan estimate is finalized.
What Should a Project Manager Check Before Entering the Lump-Sum Price?
Before transferring the Traffic Management amount into Schedule 7, the project manager should compare the traffic-management takeoff with the complete construction estimate.
The first check is whether every relevant construction activity has been considered. Milling, asphalt placement, shoulder work, barrier operations, drainage, joint sealing, pavement markings, and other roadway work should be reviewed for their potential traffic impact. The next check is duration. The estimated number of traffic-control shifts should align reasonably with the contractor’s production assumptions. If the paving estimate requires 40 shifts but the traffic-management estimate only includes 25, the difference should be explained before the tender is submitted.
The estimator should also confirm whether different construction stages require separate traffic-control arrangements. Setup and removal time, relocation, supervision, planning effort, and applicable TMP or TCP revisions should be accounted for where required. Working-hour restrictions deserve particular attention because they can reduce productive output per shift. If fewer tonnes or square metres can be completed during each permitted work window, the project may require additional traffic-control shifts to finish the same Schedule 7 quantity.
Finally, check the estimate against the latest tender addenda, drawings, Special Provisions, Standard Specifications, Traffic Management Manual requirements, and applicable WorkSafeBC requirements. The amount entered beside Item 02.01 Traffic Management should then represent the contractor’s project-specific assessment of the responsibility included in that Lump Sum item.
How Plan My Traffic Can Support Your Traffic Management Plan Estimate
For contractors bidding Asphalt Resurfacing Projects in BC, one of the biggest estimating challenges is determining what traffic-management arrangements may actually be required before field traffic-control pricing is finalized.
Plan My Traffic can support this process from the traffic management planning and documentation side of the project. Tender information such as Schedule 7, project drawings, roadway limits, construction scope, proposed staging, lane impacts, work hours, intersections, access conditions, and anticipated construction activities can be reviewed when developing project-specific Traffic Management Plans and Traffic Control Plans.
For example, the Schedule 7 reviewed in this article contains substantial milling, paving, shoulder, barrier, drainage, and pavement-marking work. Rather than assuming that all of those operations can use one traffic-control setup, the proposed stages can be reviewed to determine where different traffic-management arrangements may be required. That can give the project manager a more defined planning basis when estimating the Traffic Management Lump Sum or when requesting onsite traffic-control pricing from another provider.
We focus on preparing the Traffic Management Plan, Traffic Control Plan, and related traffic-management documentation. We do not provide flagging crews, cones, equipment rental, or physical work-zone installation. For contractors preparing a resurfacing bid, the value of traffic-management planning at the estimating stage is greater visibility into the expected work-zone arrangements before the lump-sum number is finalized.
Conclusion
Building an accurate Traffic Management Plan estimate for an Asphalt Resurfacing Project in BC starts with treating Schedule 7 as a connected construction program rather than a single lump-sum line. Milling, paving, shoulder restoration, barrier work, drainage, joint sealing, and pavement marking each carry their own traffic-control implications, and the estimate should reflect the full sequence of stages rather than the paving operation alone. Converting construction quantities into realistic shifts, checking that traffic-control duration lines up with production assumptions, and reviewing the current BC Traffic Management Manual, WorkSafeBC Part 18, and applicable Standard Specifications all help project managers arrive at a defensible number before Item 02.01 is finalized.
A project-specific takeoff, reconciled against the tender drawings and Special Provisions, gives contractors a stronger basis for the Traffic Management Lump Sum than a historical percentage or a generic assumption ever can.
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Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is included in a Traffic Management Plan estimate for an asphalt resurfacing project?
A Traffic Management Plan estimate can account for the planning and traffic-control requirements associated with the project’s construction stages. Depending on the tender, this may include Traffic Management Plan and Traffic Control Plan preparation, traffic-control labour, supervision, devices, equipment, setup and removal, relocation between stages, and other project-specific requirements. The particular contract documents should always be checked to determine which costs belong under the Traffic Management bid item.
2. How should contractors estimate Traffic Management when Schedule 7 shows only one Lump Sum?
The contractor should first break the construction scope into stages such as milling, paving, shoulder work, barrier work, drainage, and pavement marking. The expected duration and traffic-control requirements for those stages can then be estimated separately. Those components can be combined into the final Lump Sum after checking the tender’s specifications and measurement-and-payment requirements.
3. Should the Traffic Management Plan estimate be based on asphalt tonnage?
Asphalt tonnage is useful because it helps the contractor estimate production duration, but it should not be the only factor. Traffic-management cost can also depend on roadway configuration, traffic volumes, work-hour restrictions, intersections, lane impacts, project length, staging, shoulder and barrier operations, and the traffic-control arrangements required for different construction activities.
4. Do milling and paving require separate Traffic Control Plans in BC?
They may require different arrangements depending on the actual roadway, work-zone configuration, traffic conditions, work method, and project requirements. The B.C. Traffic Management Manual contains specific guidance for milling, paving, and other roadway activities. Contractors should therefore determine the required project-specific arrangements rather than automatically assuming that one plan covers every stage.
5. What documents should a project manager review before completing the Traffic Management Plan estimate?
The project manager should review Schedule 7, tender drawings, project specifications, Special Provisions, addenda, applicable Ministry requirements, the B.C. Traffic Management Manual, WorkSafeBC traffic-control requirements, and the contractor’s proposed construction staging and production assumptions. Together, these documents provide a stronger basis for determining the expected traffic-management scope before bid closing.
