How to Complete TxDOT Form 1204: Regulatory Construction Speed Zone

TxDOT Form 1204, “Request for Regulatory Construction Speed Zone,” is the internal form a TxDOT district office uses to ask the Traffic Operations Division (TRF) to establish a legally enforceable reduced speed limit on a highway construction project outside city limits.¹ TRF reviews the request and routes it to the Texas Transportation Commission. Once the Commission issues a minute order, the posted construction speed becomes a prima facie limit that law enforcement can cite against.

Who Submits the Form

Form 1204 is a TxDOT document. The district office prepares it, names a contact person, and sends it to TRF. Contractors do not fill it out and have no authority to design, locate, or maintain regulatory speed limit signs on their own, even when they physically install the signs.²

For construction inside city limits, the city has authority to set its own construction speed zones and generally handles enforcement. If a city instead wants the Transportation Commission to establish the zone, the district should have a written request from the city on file before submitting Form 1204.¹

When a Reduced Construction Speed Is Appropriate

TxDOT policy limits regulatory construction speed zones to situations where speed control is critically important and enforcement is available.² The reduced limit should cover only the portion of the project where work is actually happening, not the entire project length. Drivers tend to slow down when they can see a reason to; blanket reductions across miles of inactive roadway get ignored and weaken compliance where the slow-down actually matters.

The district selects the posted speed using engineering judgment, considering safe stopping sight distances, equipment crossings, the nature of the project, and anything else affecting driver and worker safety.³ Formal speed studies are not required the way they are for permanent speed zones; the form’s work-type categories and speed table do most of the work.

How to Fill Out the Form

Form 1204 is available from the TxDOT forms library and from TRF.⁴ Instructions are printed on the back. There are four basic steps: identify the type of work, note the current posted speed, pick the construction speed from the built-in table, and enter project details.⁵

Header Information

Enter the district name, the contact person’s name and phone number, and the highway designation. This is who TRF calls with questions.

Work Type

Each project section is assigned one of four work types, which drive how much of a reduction is allowed:⁵

Type 1: shoulder activity or lane encroachment. The least disruptive; at many posted speeds no reduction is available.
Type 2: dual lane encroachment, lane closure with barrier, or temporary diversion.
Type 3: lane closure without barrier, where workers lack physical separation from live traffic.
Type 4: one-way traffic signal control or unpaved surface. The most disruptive, with the deepest reductions available.

A single project can span multiple sections carrying different work types if conditions vary along the route.

Construction Speed Table

The form’s reference table maps the pre-construction posted speed to the allowable construction speed for each work type. A few examples:⁵

A highway posted at 75 mph with Type 1 or Type 2 work allows a construction speed of 65 or 60 mph.
The same 75 mph highway with Type 4 work allows anything from 65 down to 45 mph.
A road posted at 55 mph with Type 1 work gets no reduction; Type 3 work on that road allows 50 or 45 mph.

When the drop between the pre-construction limit and the construction limit exceeds 15 mph, buffer zones are required to step drivers down gradually. This aligns with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which generally caps work zone reductions at 10 mph unless restrictive conditions justify a larger drop, and calls for stepping the limit down in advance with added warning devices when they do.⁶

Project Section Details

The form has room for up to four project sections. For each section, enter the county, highway, city name (or “Rural” for unincorporated areas), pre-construction posted speed, proposed construction speed from the table, the control-section-job number, beginning and ending mile points, section length, and the project number from TxDOTCONNECT.⁵ Get the mile points right. The reduced limit is enforceable only within the limits where signs are actually erected, even if the Commission’s minute order covers the whole project length.²

Where to Send It

Email the completed form to TRF at TRF_TE_SpeedZone@txdot.gov.⁵ TRF reviews it and processes it for Transportation Commission action.¹ A regulatory speed limit is not legal until the Commission adopts a minute order (or a city or county ordinance establishes it). Posting a regulatory speed sign without that backing is not permitted.³

Signs: Posting, Covering, and Removal

Once the minute order is in place, standard R2-1 speed limit signs mark the zone. Signs go up only along the section where the reduction is needed, not across the whole project.²

When the reduction is not needed, during operations that don’t require it or on hours and days the contractor isn’t working, the signs have to be made inoperative. Two methods are acceptable:²

Turn the sign to the edge of the right-of-way, face it away from the road.
Cover the face of the sign, and delineate the post so it doesn’t become an invisible nighttime obstacle.

Construction speed zones cancel automatically when the project is complete. No separate form or request is needed to end the zone; when the work finishes and signs come down, the pre-construction limit takes effect again.³

Enforcement and Doubled Fines

A regulatory construction speed limit set through Form 1204 is a prima facie limit. Drivers who exceed it can be cited just as for any other posted limit. Texas Transportation Code § 542.404 adds a penalty layer on top: when a traffic offense is committed in a construction or maintenance work zone while workers are present, both the minimum and maximum fines double.⁷

The doubled-fine rule applies to speeding only if the zone is marked with a sign showing the maximum lawful speed, which is exactly what Form 1204 produces. The written notice to appear must also state on its face that workers were present when the offense was committed.⁷ That enforcement link is the practical reason districts should cover or turn signs when work is not active. A regulatory sign left visible when no hazard exists trains drivers to ignore it, and a speed zone that gets routinely blown through protects no one when the site is live.

1
Texas Department of Transportation. Request for Regulatory Construction Speed Zones
2
Texas Department of Transportation. Section 3: Construction Regulatory and Advisory Speeds
3
Texas Department of Transportation. Procedures for Establishing Speed Zones
4
Texas Department of Transportation. Appendix A: Forms
5
Texas Department of Transportation. Request for Regulatory Construction Speed Zone
6
Federal Highway Administration. Temporary Traffic Control Elements
7
State of Texas. Texas Transportation Code TRANSP 542.404 – Fine for Offense in Construction or Maintenance Work Zone