Work Zone Mobility and Safety Program
Photo collage: temporary lane closure, road marking installation, cone with mounted warning light, and drum separated work zones.
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Full Road Closure and Lane Closure

Design and Construction Strategies

Project Spotlight

MaineDOT Uses Full Closure to Save More than 4 Years on I-295 Rehabilitation - On August 3, 2009, MaineDOT reopened I-295 northbound to traffic three weeks ahead of schedule. The 24-mile, $35.3 million project involved bridge and pavement rehabilitation and installation of new guard rails. MaineDOT safety experts and traffic engineers recommended full closure as the safest and most efficient approach to the project, resulting in three years of construction and associated traffic delays being compressed into two months for each direction. Decreased speed limits, increased signage, additional traffic signals, and increased police presence on detour routes helped ensure safety and an aggressive public information campaign kept the public aware of the project, detour routes, and traffic conditions.

Full road closures, partial facility closures, and lane closures all facilitate the completion of roadway construction projects. When applied strategically, these approaches can serve as effective ways to manage safety and disruption to traffic in work zones. This page includes resources and information on each of these construction strategies:

Full Closures

Full road closure is an approach designed to eliminate the exposure of motorists to work zones and workers to traffic by temporarily closing a facility for rehabilitation or maintenance. During full road closure, traffic is detoured, allowing full access to roadway facilities. It is not suitable for all construction situations. In applicable situations, use of full road closure can result in positive public sentiment, increased productivity, reduced project duration, increased safety and/or a shortened risk period, and in some cases cost savings. A full closure approach may be used for an extended period of time, on weekends or nights, or directionally on a segment of roadway.

The following sections provide links to a series of FHWA case studies, as well as links to other examples of how agencies have used the full closure technique.

Full Road Closure for Work Zone Operations Case Studies

barricades in front of work zone with signs stating "road closed" and "do not enter"

  • Full Road Closure for Work Zone Operations - A Cross-Cutting Study (August 2003) - The report provides a summary of how departments of transportation in Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Washington, and Delaware each used a full closure approach to conduct a road rehabilitation/reconstruction project. (FHWA-OP-04-009) (EDL# 13795) (HTML, PDF 827K).
  • Full Road Closure for Work Zone Operations: A Case Study. Reducing the Impact of Construction During the Rehabilitation of a Major Interstate Highway. Interstate 95 in Wilmington, Delaware (FHWA-OP-05-012) (2004) (HTML, PDF 199K)
  • Full Road Closure for Work Zone Operations: A Case Study. Accelerating Construction and Reducing Crashes During Rehabilitation of a Major Downtown Route. M-10 Lodge Freeway in Detroit, Michigan (FHWA-OP-05-013) (2004) (HTML, PDF 224K)
  • Full Road Closure for Work Zone Operations: A Case Study. Using Weekend Closures to Expedite Road Rehabilitation and Minimize the Impacts on Motorists and Road Builders. I-84 Banfield Freeway in Portland, Oregon (FHWA-OP-05-014) (2004) (HTML, PDF 203K)
  • "Shorter Duration, Safer Work Zones, More Satisfied Travelers" (HTML, PDF 81K) Brochure on successful applications of full road closures in work zones. (FHWA-OP-03-086).

Additional Full Closure Examples

  • I-40 (Tennessee DOT) - The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) closed a short section of I-40 between James White Parkway (Exit 388) and Hall of Fame Drive (Exit 389) from early May 2008 through early June 2009 as part of the SmartFIX40 construction project. During the closure, this segment of I-40 was widened to six through lanes and four auxiliary lanes. Work also included the construction of 13 bridges, 15 retaining walls and three noise walls. Additionally, two existing bridges were demolished, 12 side roads were completed and seven new ramps were constructed. TDOT estimated that by closing this section of I-40 for the work, they would save motorists two to three years of construction time and frustration. As a result of the planning and preparation that went into the closure and extensive public outreach, there were few problems during the 13 month closure.
  • I-295 Rehabilitation (MaineDOT) - MaineDOT used full closure to compress three years of major rehabilitation work and associated traffic delays into two months for each direction of 24 miles of I-295. MaineDOT safety experts and traffic engineers recommended full closure as the safest and most efficient approach to the project. The $35.3 million project involved bridge and pavement rehabilitation and installation of new guard rails. The southbound portion of the project was closed from June through August 2008, while the northbound portion was closed from June through August 2009. Decreased speed limits, increased signage, additional traffic signals, and increased police presence helped ensure safety on the detour routes during the closures. MaineDOT conducted an aggressive public information campaign to ensure the public was aware of the project and alternate routes. MaineDOT collected travel count and speed data information through three locations, each with a camera, a radar unit, and a traffic count loop detector, and provided real-time traffic information via a web site that displayed a map with travel speeds, traffic volumes, delay information, and camera images.
  • I-64/US 40 (Missouri DOT) - Highway 40 (Interstate 64) in St. Louis closed January 2, 2008 for two years as part of a $535 million rebuilding effort. The five-mile western portion of the project reopened on December 15, 2008. The east-end closure, five miles from the I-64/I-170 interchange east to Kingshighway Blvd. began December 15 and the road will be closed until the end of 2009 for construction of roadway, interchanges, and bridges. Missouri DOT (MoDOT) has established incentives for the Contractor that include timely completion and re-opening of the road, and for tracking and meeting performance indicators for regional mobility. MoDOT is also doing an indepth evaluation of the impacts from and satisfaction with the closure approach. Without using full closure, the project would have taken an estimated 6 to 8 years of lane closures and cost many millions more.
  • Lodge Freeway (Michigan DOT) - The M-10 (Lodge Freeway) in Detroit was closed from February through November 2007 in order to reconstruct/rehabilitate 14 miles of pavement, repair/replace 50 bridges, upgrade utilities and replace freeway signs.
    • "Lodge Far From a Retreat", article in January 2008 issue of Roads & Bridges, Volume: 46 Number: 1. This article describes how the Michigan DOT saved more than $140 million, saved Detroit commuters several years of lane closures, and provided a safer environment for workers through the use of full closure on the Lodge Freeway project.
  • Augusta Memorial Bridge (Maine DOT) - The Augusta Memorial Bridge in Augusta was closed 75 continuous days from February to May 2006 for the installation of a new concrete deck.
  • Chouteau Bridge (Missouri DOT) - The Chouteau Bridge in St. Louis was closed to traffic in February 2005 for a two-year project that includes replacing the bridge and providing pedestrian accommodations. The bridge will remain closed for the entire two years.
  • Lewis and Clark Bridge (Oregon DOT and Washington State DOT) - The Lewis and Clark Bridge deck replacement project, on SR 433 over the Columbia River between Washington & Oregon, involved full closures between 9:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. for 120 nights, plus 4 weekend closures, from September 2003 to February 2004.
  • I-285 (Georgia DOT) - The I-285 resurfacing project in Atlanta involved shutting down I-285, one direction at a time, on weekends only, from 9:00 pm on Friday to 5:00 am on Monday, in 2001.
Dupont Circle Work Zone in Washington, DC

Partial Facility Closures

The following examples involve the closure of one side of the freeway during reconstruction projects. Traffic was shifted to the other side of the freeway, rather than detoured, which distinguishes these examples from the full road closure examples.


  • "Holding Down the Fort", by Frank Cippel, article in December 2007 issue of Roads & Bridges, Volume: 45 Number: 12. In 2002, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) began a major reconstruction project on the I-279 Fort Pitt Bridge and Tunnel in the city of Pittsburgh. With heavy traffic using the bridge and tunnel, closing the structures and detouring motorists would not be easy. PennDOT began studying how to best complete the work and planning detour routes in the early 1980s, well before the project began. PennDOT decided to perform various stages of the project separately in an effort to minimize the impact a total closure would have on the region. The last phase of the project involved work on the main bridge span and the tunnel. Closing of the main span of the bridge and the tunnel required the use of two main detour routes that already carried large volumes of traffic. With this in mind, PennDOT began reconstruction and rehabilitation work on the detour routes almost 10 years before the closures occurred. During the closures, PennDOT implemented many innovative strategies to reduce congestion and delay on the detour routes, including turning off traffic signals to create free-flow routes, expanding lane reversal hours, and opening a hole through an existing concrete barrier to prevent motorists from having to merge into a single lane when exiting a tunnel.
  • I-710 (Caltrans) - A portion of I-710 in Long Beach was rehabilitated during eight 55-hour weekend lane closures in 2003.
  • I-15 Devore (Caltrans) - The I-15 Devore project involved rebuilding two concrete truck lanes in only two nine-day extended lane closures during 2004, utilizing counter-flow traffic and around-the-clock operations.
  • I-70 (Indiana DOT) - Known as Super 70, this $175M project completely rebuilt the 6-mile stretch of I-70 from I-465 on the east side of the city to downtown Indianapolis. The project occurred between June 2006 and 2008, with the bulk of interstate reconstruction and ramp and lane closures occurring between March and November 2007. To do the bulk of the work in this short time frame, Indiana used partial facility closures. Selected ramps and one side of the Interstate were closed at a time, with work completed on the one side in an accelerated manner before switching to the other side. There were 3 inbound lanes and 2 outbound lanes during the morning rush hour, and during evening rush hour the flow was reversed using a moveable barrier wall. The wall was moved 12 feet at a time from one lane to the other, adding a lane in the peak travel direction.
    • "Still Hyper Active", article in June 2007 issue of Roads & Bridges Magazine, Volume: 45 Number: 6

Lane Closures

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