Roads may be partially or completely closed in one or both directions for multiple reasons:
Road construction
Natural disasters
Local events
Also these instances may close a road for a few hours, days, weeks, and even years. Depending upon how long the road will be closed will determine what method is used to update the map..
Mega event - A major event that will typically have road closures or detours. It is usually a scheduled event with significant exposure and likely to impact an entire community. A major natural disaster can be added after it occurs if roads are going to be rerouted for many days.
Temporary Closures - Temporary Closures can be entered in WME, or through the client as you drive by them. See next item for Closures report from client. Closures can be added to segments in WME by high ranking editors, without actually modifying the segment, or its turn restrictions. These display in the client and Livemap with alerts and candy stripes on the segments notifying users of the closures. Due to its' safety and visibilty, this is the preferred method for closing a road. Editors who do not have access to add closures in WME can request a higher ranking editor to help using a designated request format, or the unlock/update request for their country. In the USA the Road Closures Form (USA) is used.
Closures report from the client - Users in the client app can mark an unexpected road closure they see while driving. It is typically used for unexpected, short term closures of up to a few days. This feature requires multiple users at the location to enter the same road closure information on the map before it will be seen by other drivers.
Partial restrictions - AKA Scheduled or Time-Based Restrictions. Used when turns or roadways are restricted for certain times of day, days of the week, vehicle types, etc. It has the ability to only restrict during a specific date range, so it can be used in place of mega events or temporary road closures if necessary (as a last resort).
Disconnect road segments - Road segments should only be physically disconnected if the road is no longer intended to connect or is being permanently removed. In the past, this method was used for longer term construction projects, but now the Road Closure feature should be used.
Hours, days, weeks
If the road is affected for only a few hours or even a few weeks then use the Report > Closure feature in the Waze client application. Note this requires a person be physically located at the point of the road closure to report it in the client application. Alternately, the Partial restrictions feature in WME, can be used for these situations until the road closure feature can be accessed directly in WME.
Weeks, months, years
WME has the ability to restrict traffic flow through the Partial restrictions feature. For road construction situations, refer to that article for more specific information.
Daily for certain times
If the road is closed every day or numerous days for a certain time of day, the proper solution will require Time-based turn restrictions, also known as scheduled restrictions.
NOTES for all durations
The current time frame for map tile generation is every day on all map infrastructures. Due to when the map update cycle starts, road closures and openings should be saved in the editor two days prior to the event.
Don't forget to edit the map back when the road partially or completely reopens.
If a road is closed, it is generally a last resort to disconnect the section of road that is closed. Try one of the other alternatives first and if none of those will work for your situation, then considering disconnecting the road. Changing the road direction to "Unknown" will not prevent routing on the road since this means to Waze that it should analyze drives along this segment and change the road direction automatically. This setting will allow Waze to create routes along the road as if it were a 2-way segment.
If one direction of a road is closed, change the road direction to "One-Way" and also put a turn restriction as appropriate on junctions with the road.
There is no need to edit the map for lane closures.
If the road is slower than usual, Waze will learn the average road speed has fallen and make automatic Road reports.
If there is an official detour route, Waze will learn about it as you drive it.
You should check all surrounding roads are mapped properly and have correct directionality and connectivity so that Waze can find the best detour.
