DetourATX

Austin lists every closed road in the city. It never tells you how to get around one. Type in where you are starting and where you are going. This shows you what is closed on the way, how sure we are about each one, and what to do about it.

Why not just use a maps app

A maps app sees the traffic. This sees the paperwork.

Traffic apps find out about a jam from phones that are already stuck in it. So they can only warn you once the queue has formed. Roadworks are filed with the city days or weeks beforehand — and no maps app reads those filings.

It tells you what is broken, not just what is slow.

A traffic light that has gone dark is legally a four-way stop in Texas, and most drivers do not know that. A closed sidewalk does not slow a car down at all, and matters enormously if you use a wheelchair or push a stroller.

It admits what it does not know.

The city has never checked the location on a single one of its closure records. So every item here comes with a label saying how much to trust it. If the work looks finished, this says so — rather than warning you about a closure that is not there any more.

It can tell you about tomorrow, not just right now.

Roadworks come with dates attached. So this can show you what your route looks like tomorrow morning, or whether the thing in your way clears before next week. A traffic app cannot do that at any price — tomorrow’s jam has not happened yet.