The Tool Desk
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Start with access, not advertising
Road work can change a familiar trip into a series of wrong turns. Customers may assume a closed driveway means a closed business, or abandon the visit when they cannot see where to enter or park. Communications help only when the physical route is usable, so begin by confirming access with the agency, contractor, or project engineer responsible for the work.
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WisDOT’s business road-construction guide captures the basic purpose: “Temporary signs can help customers navigate a construction zone to find your business.” A sign cannot reopen a blocked driveway, provide a safe pedestrian route, or create parking. Treat signage and online updates as part of an access plan rather than a substitute for one.
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Get one dependable project contact
Ask the road project’s public-information contact or project engineer for a current schedule and a way to receive prompt change notices. Construction dates often move as work stages, weather, utilities, and traffic control change. A dependable contact lets you update customers before an incorrect route spreads.
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Request these details in writing or in a project briefing:
- Expected start and completion dates, including the sequence of work stages.
- Which lanes, intersections, sidewalks, driveways, and entrances will close in each stage.
- The approved vehicle detour, turning restrictions, and the direction from which customers can approach.
- Where customers can enter and exit safely, including any temporary or secondary access.
- Parking that remains available, relocated parking, and the walking route from parking to your door.
- Accessible pedestrian access and any changes affecting mobility devices, deliveries, or pickups.
- Who is responsible for traffic-control and business-access signs, installation, maintenance, and removal.
- How businesses will be notified when the work stage or traffic pattern changes.
Ask the project team to explain the plan for every stage, not merely the final detour. A driveway may be open during utility work and closed during paving, while a side-street approach may work in one direction but not the other.
Walk and drive the customer route
Test the trip from the directions customers normally use. Drive it at the times your customers arrive, then walk from each likely parking area to the entrance. Record the first point where construction barriers, unfamiliar turns, poor sightlines, or missing signs could cause confusion.
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Map the following for each stage:
- The normal entrance and every usable alternate entrance.
- Approaches from both travel directions and the turns customers must make.
- Accessible sidewalks, crossings, ramps, and temporary pedestrian paths.
- Open parking spaces, overflow areas, loading zones, and the safest walking connection.
- Locations where a driver can safely read a sign without stopping in a live lane.
Photographs and a simple annotated map help staff, the sign installer, and the project team discuss the same problem. Recheck the route after barriers or traffic-control devices move; a plan that worked last week may no longer describe the road.
Ask for practical accommodations
Raise access concerns early, when the work staging can still be adjusted. Ask whether the agency or contractor can provide a temporary or secondary business access, an entrance sign, alternative parking, a safe pedestrian connection, or staged work that keeps one approach open. These are requests, not guaranteed accommodations, and the road owner determines what is safe and permitted.
Explain the customer consequence of each problem: for example, “Customers approaching from the north cannot turn left and cannot see the open driveway,” rather than simply saying that access is difficult. Specific observations give the project team something it can evaluate.
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Give customers one precise message
Use a short, stage-specific template
Write one core message and replace its route details whenever the work stage changes:
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We’re open. Use [street or turn] to reach [entrance]. Customer parking is [location].
Add the information that matters for your business: a changed entrance, a one-way approach, accessible parking, delivery instructions, or temporary hours. Do not describe a route as “open” unless customers can actually drive or walk it safely. If the detour is complicated, pair the sentence with a simple map or a photograph showing the entrance.
Publish the same facts everywhere
Put the current message where customers already look, using the same wording and route:
- A prominent notice on the home page and contact or location page.
- Google Business Profile or other map-listing updates that your team controls.
- Social posts, with the construction stage and update date clearly shown.
- Email, appointment confirmations, reservation messages, and text reminders.
- Voicemail greetings and phone scripts for reception or customer service.
- Printed notices at the old entrance, in windows, and on parking-lot approaches.
Give employees a short talking point and the date it was last checked. Staff should be able to answer “Which way do I come?” and “Where do I park?” without improvising a different route. Assign one person to own updates and one backup for days that person is unavailable.
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Do not wait for complaints to discover that a direction is obsolete. Set a check before each announced stage, on the morning a traffic pattern changes, and after any report that a driveway, sign, or sidewalk is blocked. Remove “temporary” language when normal access returns so customers do not continue taking a detour.
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Temporary signs: useful when they are legal, visible, and accurate
Coordinate before ordering or installing
Sign rules depend on the road owner and jurisdiction. WisDOT’s guidance applies to work on the state highway system and notes that local-street projects may be controlled by a local governing body under different rules. Ask the project engineer or local authority:
- Whether temporary business-access or directional signs are allowed at the proposed locations.
- Whether the business, contractor, or agency must apply for a permit.
- Who approves the wording, arrow direction, color, size, and placement.
- Who installs, maintains, moves, and removes the signs.
- Whether signs may be placed in a public right-of-way, and what setbacks or visibility rules apply.
Coordinate locations with the project engineer before installation. A well-designed sign in an unsafe or unauthorized position can be removed, obscure traffic-control information, or create a hazard.
Understand the sign types
Madison’s guide describes three useful categories, each solving a different wayfinding problem:
| Sign type | What it does | Typical use |
|---|---|---|
| Driveway sign | Helps motorists identify a driveway. | Place where the open entrance is difficult to see because of barriers, equipment, or a changed approach. |
| Alternate business access sign | Points drivers to a temporary or secondary entrance with an arrow and a business-name placard. | Use when the normal driveway is closed but another approved access remains available. |
| Directional sign | Guides motorists from a side street toward the business. | Use before the critical turn so drivers can change lanes or follow the detour safely. |
Madison issues temporary sign permits for most projects and recommends obtaining a permit before ordering driveway signs. That process is a local example, not a national rule.
Check size and lettering requirements locally
For the specific Wisconsin state-highway guidance, the stated maximum is 3 feet by 3 feet for an individual-business sign and 4 feet by 8 feet for a multi-business sign. It specifies 4-inch lettering on roads posted at 45 mph or less and 6-inch lettering at speeds above 45 mph; logos may be no larger than 4 square feet. These dimensions are jurisdiction-specific. Verify current requirements with the road owner before purchasing a sign, because a local street or different agency may use other limits.
Keep the message readable at driving speed: business name, clear action such as “OPEN” or “NEXT RIGHT,” and one arrow or destination. Do not crowd the sign with hours, phone numbers, long explanations, or multiple competing arrows. If the route changes, move or replace the sign immediately.
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Make parking and pedestrian access explicit
Parking uncertainty is often the second reason customers turn around. Tell customers exactly where to park, whether spaces are limited, and how to reach the entrance from the lot. If parking is shared, identify the permitted area rather than implying that every nearby space is available.
Check the complete path, not just the vehicle entrance. Construction can remove a curb ramp, narrow a sidewalk, create uneven surfaces, or force a crossing at a different location. Ask the project team to confirm a safe, accessible route and show it on your map or in a photograph. Never direct customers through a work zone, around a barrier, or across an active lane unless the approved traffic-control plan provides that path.
Choose communication channels by speed and visibility
Different channels solve different parts of the problem. Compare them before deciding where to spend effort:
| Channel | Best use | Strength | Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadside directional sign | Capturing drivers already near the project. | Visible at the decision point. | Requires permission, safe placement, installation, and maintenance; cannot fix blocked access. |
| Website and map listing | Customers planning a visit. | Can explain the route, parking, hours, and a map. | Fails customers who do not check it or see an outdated cached result. |
| Social media and email | Reaching existing followers and booked customers. | Fast to update when stages change. | Does not reach every prospective customer; old posts can remain visible. |
| Phone, voicemail, and staff script | Answering questions at the moment of contact. | Allows clarification for unusual trips or accessibility needs. | Requires every staff member to use the current version. |
| Window, entrance, and parking notices | Helping customers who have reached the area. | Reassures people that the business is open. | Cannot guide someone who misses the approach. |
Use several channels, but keep the route, entrance, parking, and hours identical. The fastest channel is not useful if it conflicts with the sign customers see on the street.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Coordinate with neighboring businesses
When an entire commercial area is affected, customers may decide whether to visit before choosing one business. Work with neighboring owners and the project team on a shared “businesses open” message, a common map, or coordinated signs where permitted. A shared sign can reduce visual clutter and show that access is available beyond one storefront.
Neighbors can also coordinate a local campaign or event that gives customers a reason to make the trip. Madison’s guide describes a campaign combining digital advertising, signage, and a Facebook group. Use that as an example of coordinated outreach, not as a required format. Agree on accurate route information first; promotion cannot compensate for an unsafe or unclear approach.
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What the available evidence says about signs
An ODOT field study by Andrew Griffith and Joni Reid, published in 2001 from a survey conducted during 1999 construction, found that 292 of 371 surveyed motorists—about 80%—noticed temporary business-access signs. Of those 292 motorists, 242 said the signs helped them locate business driveways.
The same study found that 219 of the 371 motorists reported difficulty getting in and out of businesses during construction. The result is important: people may notice and appreciate a sign while still facing a genuine access problem. This historical survey should not be treated as a current or universal prediction for a particular project. Use it to justify clear wayfinding, then verify that the physical route works.
During construction: run a simple control loop
- Check the stage. Confirm the current work area, open approach, entrance, parking, and pedestrian route with the project contact.
- Inspect the customer view. Drive and walk the route. Make sure barriers have not hidden the sign or closed the entrance shown online.
- Update the master message. Change the website, map listing, social post, email or appointment notice, voicemail, and staff script together.
- Check signs. Confirm that arrows point to the actual usable entrance and that signs are upright, clean, visible, and outside the safe travel path.
- Log problems. Record the location, time, photograph, and customer impact of a blocked driveway, missing sign, unsafe crossing, or parking conflict.
- Escalate quickly. Send the log to the project contact and request a specific correction, such as relocating a sign or restoring an approved access.
WisDOT guidance recommends considering routing, parking, communication frequency, and alternative access points as work progresses. A recurring inspection is more reliable than assuming the original traffic-control plan remains unchanged.
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After construction: close the loop
Confirm that the normal entrance, parking, and pedestrian route are actually restored before announcing a return to normal. Then update digital directions and staff scripts, remove or revise temporary notices, and tell customers which route has returned.
Follow the local authority’s removal instruction. WisDOT’s state-highway policy says signs covered by that policy must be removed within 48 hours, but that deadline must not be generalized to other jurisdictions or projects. Ask who is responsible for removal and document when it is done.
Quick Recap
Troubleshoot the most common failures
Customers still say they cannot find the entrance
- Drive the route from the customer’s direction and look for the first missed decision point.
- Check whether the arrow points to a closed driveway or an entrance hidden by equipment.
- Move the approved sign earlier, where drivers can change lanes safely.
- Add a photo of the entrance and parking to the current online message.
The driveway is physically blocked
- Do not direct customers through barriers or an active work area.
- Ask the project team for an approved alternate access, temporary driveway, or staged opening.
- Publish the new route only after confirming it is safe and available.
Parking is available but customers cannot reach the door
- Walk the route for ramps, sidewalk continuity, lighting, and crossings.
- Request a safe accessible path or a closer approved drop-off location.
- Show the walking route in customer instructions and brief staff on assistance procedures.
Different channels show different directions
- Choose one current master message with a date and construction stage.
- Assign one owner to update every channel and archive or edit obsolete posts.
- Replace printed notices and voicemail wording at the same time as digital updates.
A practical checklist
- Project contact, schedule, stages, detour, entrances, parking, and notification method confirmed.
- Vehicle and pedestrian routes tested from each important approach.
- Accessible route and parking verified.
- One concise message prepared with entrance, turns, parking, and hours.
- Website, map listing, social, email, phone, staff script, and on-site notices aligned.
- Sign permit, size, lettering, placement, installer, maintenance, and removal requirements confirmed locally.
- Neighboring businesses invited to coordinate accurate shared information.
- Inspection and update owner assigned for every work-stage change.
- Normal access announcement and temporary-sign removal planned for completion.
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