What am I required to do concerning notification, barriers etc. if I have to close a road temporarily?

I have to close off a road for 1 month to repair a small bridge. What am I required to do concerning notification, barriers, etc…?

You will need to notify the County emergency management office (911) about the closure. We also recommend putting a notice in the local paper and even a sign listing the dates if the projecting is going to be a long one. You would put the dates of the closure on a sign posted near the bridge. Remember, good signage is one of your primary ways to communicate. Highway Law section 140(14) requires the Town Highway Superintendent to put up detour signs when needed.

There is very good information on detour signage in the MUTCD (section 6H has lots of good typical application examples).

Here is the typical signage layout for an offsite detour, but there are others you may want to review.

Also, NYSDOT has additional typical applications and details for work zone signage on their Work Zone Traffic Control page. While not showing a lot for closures, there is a lot of very good information on all types of work zone operations available.

There is a figure in the Traffic Sign Handbook that shows the signs needed for a road or bridge closure (pages 57-58) and some of the typical detour signs are shown in chapter 8 (pages 87-88).

Resources

NYSDOT Work Zone Traffic Control

Traffic Sign Handbook for Local Roads, 2017 New York State Edition, March 2017 (pdf)