Montana/Closures/Main Discussion View history

Road Closures

You can follow MDT Road Report on Twitter to stay up to date on the latest traffic conditions and road closures.

This section contains details about road closures, mainly MT and State Hwy's but can contain City, Urban and Rural streets in the state of Montana. If you perform a road closure at any time please use the Waze Closures form and report all closures here. A list of all Montana State and Secondary Hwy closing are on MDOT travel information webpage.

Road Name	Editor	Closed Date	Est Open Date	Links and comments
MT-38 ROAD CLOSED FROM MILEPOST 14.5-38	Kinematic	2015-12-22	2016-05-01	Road Closed for winter season.
State Hwy 471	Kinematic	2015-12-22	2016-05-01	Thompson Pass closed for winter season.
US-212 / Beartooth Hwy	Kinematic	2015-12-22	2016-05-01	Beartooth Hwy closed for winter season, this is to include WY also.
MT-49 / Looking Glass	Kinematic	2016-1-20	2016-03-01	MT-49 / Looking Glass Hwy closed for winter season
Billings - Bench Blvd	Kinematic	2016-03-06	2016-05-01	Bench Blvd from Barrett Road to Pemberton Lane is closed to through traffic. Local traffic only. Link
Pattee Street-Broadway to Caras Park	Kinematic	2016-03-09	2016-03-30	Construction on a new sewer main
Wolfpack Way, Kalispell, Montana	Kinematic	2016-03-09	2016-03-30	Wolfpack Way

Rest Area closures

As of this righting 02/2016 there are currently no guidelines in the wiki stating how to close a ramp. This was brought to the attention of our RC, discussion ensued and a final conclusion has been made. Listed below are the following state guidelines for Montana only and should not be considered accurate for any other state outside of Montana unless agreed upon RC and SM.

The choice to implement a RTC (Real time closure) was based on multiple parts. Turn directions: Using a TBTR (time based turn restriction) Waze will still route to the rest area, TBTR merely suggests a suggestion/penalty. There's no other way to get there, so it will route that way. Hard turn restriction only prevents routes through that turn. A closure or RTC (Real Time Closure) will make the segments invisible to the routing server and therefore will never direct the driver onto the ramp thus avoiding the closed rest area. The second to last step is Updating the Rest area it's self.

Final step: After completing the closure of the ramps and rest area please log it into the form below. This way we can keep track of all closures and time frames.

Rest Area	MM #	Closed Date	Est Open Date	Editor	Links and comments
Divide N Rest Area	MM 108.7	02/27/2016	Closed until completion of the new rest area(s).	Kinematic	MDT
Divide S Rest Area	MM 109.1	02/27/2016	Closed until completion of the new rest area(s).	Kinematic	MDT
Columbus Rest Area	MM 419	03/06/2016	12/01/2016	Kinematic	MDT
BROADUS REST AREA	MM 80	03/11/2016	03/19/2016	Kinematic	Travelmobile

Acquiring resources

In order to understand how to close a rest area, we first have to identify which rest area it is. We can find this information on MDT Construction and Maintenance site. MDT will have closures planned for the future, current closures and completed closures. For this scenario we will be using

Colmbus eastbound and westbound rest areas, parking lots, on and off ramps. With the provided resource we can now start to construct our Real Time Closure.(RTC)

• Closure date: 2-29-16
• Ending date: Until further notice
• Reason: Under construction

We can then take this information and fill out a RTC on the ramp entering into the rest area to be closed.

Closure

To begin closing the rest area we first edit the rest are fields. You can do this simply by clicking on the area it's self and pressing the E key on your keyboard. Within in the NAME field place CLOSED in bold letters in the square brackets. Under the DESCRIPTION field, enter the closing description found on the MDT Construction and Maintenance website. We also will want to un-check any amenity that is checked in the More Information tab for the purpose of visually representing no amenities are available. When everything is entered in, click save.

Ramp Closure

Selecting the ramp to be closed. In this case it's "to Rest Area" as in most cases, although some ramps are named differently depending on how the exit is labeled.

RTC on Ramp

Collecting the data from earlier we can now enter it into the closure.

• Location - This field will auto-populate to name of affected street. If multiple streets are selected, add a general description of the area (name of the road, the interchange, or the area if several roads in a known area are being closed). This section is NOT view-able in the client app, it is only seen in the WME.
• Reason - This section will be view-able in both the client app and the LiveMap. Write a description of closure / event here. Once supported, #hashtags will go here.
• Direction - Closure direction should be noted carefully (using the A and B nodes for reference). Close one way direction on a two way road here.
• Event - This field is not currently active, please ignore.

Start/End Date & Time - Enter date/time the closure will remain active (the start date can be a date in the past). Enter local time for area of map you are editing. Format is 24-hour clock and YYYY-MM-DD. NOTE: End date can not be more than 183 days after the start date.

In the event that you are unable to use the RTC feature you can do 1 of 2 things:

1. Report the closure to a AM/SM
2. Use the Closures for all editors form.