When roadwork blocks a familiar route, customers may assume your business is closed or decide they cannot reach it. Tell them plainly whether you are open, how to get to the current entrance, where to park or walk, and what has changed. Keep the message current and consistent across your channels; confirm routes, dates, and sign permissions with the project contact before publishing.
Start with confirmed access information, not assumptions
Before announcing a route or telling customers to use an entrance, establish what the work will actually change. Construction schedules, detours, parking, and permitted signs vary by project and location. An old route can be more confusing than no directions, so treat access information as a live operational detail that must be checked whenever the project changes phase.
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Ask the project team for the details customers need
Contact the road agency or project liaison early, ideally while the work is being planned. Business Queensland, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), and the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) all emphasize coordination and timely information as part of managing construction disruption. Request information specific to your business rather than relying only on a general project notice.
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- The construction phases that may affect your block, with expected start and end dates where available.
- The current official detour and any approved way to reach your property during each affected phase.
- Which driveway, entrance, sidewalk, or other pedestrian approach is expected to remain available, and when that may change.
- Whether parking, loading areas, transit stops, or delivery access will be affected.
- How the project will notify businesses about schedule or access changes, and who to contact when conditions on site differ from the notice.
- Whether the project team can provide temporary business-access signs, entrance markers, or other approved wayfinding.
- Any process for raising business-specific needs, such as delivery constraints or access requirements for customers with disabilities.
Keep the liaison’s name and contact details with your project notes. FHWA’s Safe Access for Everyone Is Good for Business describes requests businesses can make, including a single agency point of contact, temporary access, alternative parking, clear entrance signs, and regular progress reports. These are requests to discuss with the project team, not a guarantee that every measure will be approved.
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Separate confirmed facts from estimates
Ask which details are firm and which are provisional. If a phase date is an estimate, label it that way rather than presenting it as a promise. If no one has confirmed an entrance or route, do not guess: tell customers you are checking and direct them to your business contact for the latest confirmed information. Date-stamp notices so a customer can tell when the information was last reviewed.
MnDOT guidance reflects Minnesota practice; it should not be treated as a promise about what another road agency will do. FHWA and Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) materials provide useful coordination and access principles, but the local project contact and applicable local rules determine what is possible at a particular site.
Raise business-specific needs before the work begins
Do not wait until equipment is in place to explain how a change could affect your operation. Tell the project team about access needs tied to your premises, including customer pickup, appointments, loading, deliveries, or customers who need an accessible route. Ask how each phase could affect those needs and whether there is a way to plan around the disruption. FHWA guidance on business access and FHWA’s work-zone planning material both support early coordination and advance notice of phase changes and work schedules.
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Build an update customers can act on
A useful notice answers the practical questions a customer has before leaving home or work. Put the most important information first: whether the business is open, then the current way to reach it. Avoid vague statements such as “roadwork nearby” or “access may be affected” without explaining what a customer should do now.
Use a repeatable message structure
- Open status: Say clearly whether you are open and whether normal trading continues. If hours have changed, state the temporary hours and when they apply.
- Current route or entrance: Describe the confirmed approach in ordinary language. Identify the usable entrance or driveway; include a simple map if the route is difficult to explain in a few sentences.
- Parking and pedestrian access: Name the parking customers can use and the walking route to the entrance. Include relevant accessibility information, such as whether a step-free route is available, if you have confirmed it.
- What changed: Explain the particular temporary change, such as a closed driveway, relocated entrance, or restricted parking, and identify which part of your notice it affects.
- Update timing: Give the date the information was checked and say when customers should look for the next notice, such as when the work moves to another phase.
- Contact: Provide your business contact for questions about visiting, orders, or appointments. Provide the project contact for construction conditions when that is appropriate and you have permission to share the details.
This is a practical format based on government guidance, not an official required notice. Adapt it to the confirmed conditions at your site. If the best route is not yet verified, leave out directions rather than filling the gap with a guess.
Example notice to adapt
We’re open during the roadwork. Our current entrance is [describe the confirmed approach]. Customer parking is [identify the confirmed parking area], and the pedestrian route to the entrance is [describe the confirmed route]. [State any temporary change to hours or access.] This information was checked on [date]; we’ll update it when the project phase changes. For questions about visiting, contact [business contact].
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Replace each bracketed instruction with verified information before publishing. If a detail does not apply, remove it; do not leave an empty prompt in a customer-facing message. Add a simple, legible map when a written route could be misunderstood, and make sure the map shows the current approach rather than a route that was available in an earlier phase.
Keep the message specific without overwhelming readers
Give enough detail to make the visit possible, but do not copy a long engineering notice into a customer update. Customers need the practical effect on their trip: whether you are open, how to reach the entrance, where to park or walk, and whether hours changed. A short explanation of the construction may help explain why the route is different, but it should not bury those instructions.
If a map is useful, make sure the labels and written directions agree. Show the business, the usable approach, the entrance, and parking or pedestrian access that customers need to identify. Avoid showing an unconfirmed shortcut or a road segment that is closed. Where construction is changing in stages, label the map with the phase or date it applies to and replace it when that information changes.
Publish the same current facts where customers look
Customers will check different places, so choose several dependable channels and give each the same access details. The goal is not to publish more messages than necessary; it is to make the current answer easy to find, including for people who have not visited recently.
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- Website: Put a concise access notice somewhere visitors can find before travelling, such as a prominent site notice or the page customers use to plan a visit. Update or remove obsolete route information.
- Social profiles: Post the current notice where your regular followers are likely to see it. Pin or otherwise surface the update if the platform allows, and revise it when the access facts change.
- Email or newsletter: Tell existing customers when the disruption materially changes how they reach you. Include the practical route and entrance information rather than assuming they saw a social post.
- Window or door notice: Tell passersby that the business is open and where to find the current entrance, if it is safe and permitted to direct them that way.
- Map: Use a simple map when words alone are not enough to distinguish the approved approach, available parking, or pedestrian route. Check that its labels match the written notice.
Maintain one source of current details—such as a dated notice or shared internal document—and use it to update each channel. This reduces the chance that a website points one way while an older social post points another. If neighboring businesses are affected too, consider coordinating notices or a shared promotion so customers can still plan visits to the area.
Do not assume a navigation app will show the official detour. MnDOT notes that navigation apps may choose a fastest route rather than the official detour. Make your own confirmed access information easy to find instead of relying on an app’s suggested route as your customer notice.
Make the update easy to find again
Use a consistent place for the latest notice, such as a website access page or a pinned social post, and direct customers there from other messages when practical. If you send an email, include the essentials in the email itself so customers do not have to follow several links just to learn whether you are open. A clear date on the notice also helps returning customers distinguish current directions from an earlier update.
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When a phase changes, replace outdated information rather than simply adding another post with new directions and leaving the old one visible without context. Where you cannot remove an old message, clearly mark it as superseded and point to the current access notice. This matters especially for maps, which can continue circulating after the route they show is no longer available.
Coordinate signs and physical wayfinding with the project team
Online directions cannot solve every on-site problem. Customers approaching the work area need to recognize the entrance and understand where they can safely go. Ask the project contact what business-access signs, entrance markers, or approved route notices can be provided and where they may be placed.
FHWA identifies clear entrance signs, temporary access, alternative parking, and progress reports among the measures businesses can discuss with agencies. TxDOT guidance notes that construction can make driveway approaches difficult to see and that project teams may specify additional signing and channelizing devices. Those details depend on the site and project; coordinate with the people responsible for the work rather than attempting to direct traffic yourself.
Keep business notices distinct from traffic control
A business-created “open” notice can tell people you are operating, but it does not establish that a road, sidewalk, or driveway is safe or authorized for travel. Do not place signs in a way that could be mistaken for official traffic control, obstruct a sightline, or direct drivers into a restricted area. Check local rules and get project approval before placing signs near the roadway. Ask the project team to address unclear or missing access signs rather than improvising traffic directions.
For a storefront, a portable OPEN sign may reinforce that you are operating, but it cannot tell customers how to reach you and does not replace an approved access sign or traffic-control device. Treat it as a simple business-status notice only, and make sure its placement complies with local requirements and project directions.
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Customers are only one part of access planning. Employees may arrive from different directions or use different parking; suppliers and delivery drivers need instructions that work for their vehicles and schedules. Share the relevant confirmed changes with each group before they take effect.
- Tell employees which entrance and parking arrangements are current, and how to report a blocked or confusing approach.
- Send suppliers and delivery providers the approved approach, any loading restrictions, and the person to contact if they cannot complete a delivery as planned.
- Review delivery timing with suppliers when work restrictions make the usual schedule or loading point impractical.
- Check that the customer route remains usable for pedestrians and people with disabilities. Raise an access problem promptly with the project contact rather than assuming it will be resolved automatically.
- Update any appointment, pickup, or service instructions that direct customers to an entrance or parking area affected by the work.
Share only the changes each group needs. An employee notice may include shift-arrival and parking details; a customer notice should focus on visiting; a supplier notice should explain delivery access. Keeping the underlying route facts aligned while tailoring the operational detail makes messages clearer without creating conflicting instructions.
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Check the full journey, not just the driveway
Access may involve more than vehicle entry. Consider whether a customer can reach the entrance from a usable sidewalk or parking area, and whether a transit stop or pedestrian route has changed. If a route for people with disabilities is relevant, verify that it is actually available rather than assuming that a nearby entrance or sidewalk remains usable. Share confirmed details, and report an obstruction or confusing approach to the project liaison promptly.
Employees can be an early warning system. Ask them to report when customers or delivery drivers have trouble finding the entrance, but do not ask them to redirect traffic into a closed or restricted area. Use those reports to check the situation with the project team and revise the notice once the current conditions are verified.
Review updates as the work changes
Construction access is not a one-time announcement. Review your notice against the project schedule and the conditions reported by the project team. When a phase changes, check the entrance, route, parking, pedestrian access, and operating information before updating customers. If an unexpected delay changes access, revise the notice as soon as you have a confirmed change.
Use a simple change process:
- Check the latest project communication and confirm any change with the liaison if details are unclear.
- Identify which customer instructions are affected, including maps, hours, parking, and delivery or appointment directions.
- Update the current notice and its date, then publish the same facts to every channel you use.
- Remove, replace, or clearly supersede outdated signs and online posts so customers do not encounter competing directions.
- Tell staff and suppliers about changes that affect their work, before they rely on old instructions.
If a customer reports that the published approach is blocked or misleading, check the situation promptly and contact the project liaison. Correct the public notice when the facts are verified. Do not leave a known conflict in place while waiting for the next planned phase update.
Plan for a changed schedule
Construction dates and access arrangements can shift. Ask the project team how it will tell businesses when the schedule changes, and decide who in your business will check for updates and revise customer notices. If the work is delayed but access has not changed, avoid implying that the original end date still applies; provide the confirmed status and say when you expect to check again. If access changes unexpectedly, prioritize a clear correction to the route or entrance message once you have verified the new arrangement.
Keep a simple record of when notices were checked and changed. This makes it easier to identify which channels still need updating and helps staff answer customers consistently. The record need not be elaborate: the current route, date checked, next expected review, and the person responsible may be enough for a small business.
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Close the loop when roadwork is complete
When the work ends, tell customers and suppliers that construction-related access changes have finished. Thank them for their patience, explain any access or operating changes that continue, and invite them back. Remove temporary notices and maps that no longer apply, and restore ordinary directions only after confirming they match the current conditions. Business Queensland and MnDOT both include post-construction communication as part of informing customers through disruption.
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FHWA’s Safe Access for Everyone Is Good for Business puts the issue plainly: “Road construction can disrupt customers and drivers, but adverse effects can be minimized.” A clear update cannot prevent every inconvenience, but it can make the current route, entrance, and operating status easier to understand.
Clear, repeated information cannot guarantee that every customer will visit or prevent lost sales. It does give people a more reliable basis for deciding whether and how to come, and it helps your staff respond consistently when the familiar route changes.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I let customers know my business is still open during road construction?
Say plainly that you are open, then give the current confirmed entrance or route, parking or pedestrian access, and any temporary hours. Put the update on dependable channels customers use, such as your website, social profiles, email, and a permitted window notice.
How can customers get to my business during roadwork?
Confirm the current official approach with the project contact before directing customers. Describe the route in ordinary language, identify the usable entrance and parking, and include a simple map if words alone could be confusing. Do not rely on a navigation app to show the official detour.
What should I do if construction blocks the usual entrance?
Ask the project liaison which entrance or temporary access route remains available, and whether the project can provide an entrance marker or other approved wayfinding. Update customer directions only after the alternate access is confirmed, and keep business signs separate from traffic-control signs.
How often should I update customers about road construction?
Review your notice when the project changes phase, when an unexpected delay affects access, or when you learn that published directions are no longer accurate. Date-stamp the information and tell customers when to check for the next update.
Should I tell customers to follow their navigation app’s detour?
No. MnDOT notes that navigation apps may choose a fastest route rather than the official detour. Share the confirmed route and entrance information supplied by the project team instead.
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Can I put up my own sign directing drivers to my business?
Check local rules and get project approval before placing signs near the roadway. A business-created OPEN notice can communicate that you are operating, but it is not an approved traffic-control sign and should not direct drivers into a restricted area.
The Bottom Line
Before the work changes access, confirm the project phases, route, entrance, parking, and pedestrian arrangements with the project contact. Then tell customers clearly whether you are open, how to reach you now, and when the information was checked. Keep the same facts current across customer channels, signs, staff instructions, and supplier notices—and revise them whenever confirmed conditions change.
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