How to check road closures and traffic near you
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Your navigation app knows about the crash. It usually does not know about the parade.
Navigation apps are very good at one thing: telling you the highway is slow right now. They are noticeably worse at the street closed for a parade, the bridge work that started this morning, or the crash on the two-lane road with no traffic sensors on it.
For that you need a couple of other sources, and they're all free.
The state 511 system
Most states run a 511 traffic service, as a website, an app, and often a phone number. It's the official feed for highway incidents, lane closures, and planned construction, and it's usually where navigation apps get their closure data in the first place. If you want the source instead of the summary, this is it. Search your state's name plus "511."
City and county road notices
Local closures live on the city or county public works page. Parades, festivals, water main repairs, resurfacing. These often never make it into navigation apps until cars are already stuck, because nobody reported them as an incident. If your city has a "road closures" or "street closures" page, bookmark it.
Transit and weather
If you take the train or bus, the transit agency's alerts are their own feed and worth following separately. And for a storm, the National Weather Service warning will usually arrive before the road it closes shows up anywhere.
The map view
PinScene pulls the state traffic feeds, transit alerts, weather warnings, and construction notices onto one map, each pin on the road it's about, and neighbors add the things no feed reports: the fallen tree on the side street, the light that's out, the parking lot that just filled up for the game. Open it before you leave and you see what's between you and where you're going, in Houston, Chicago, or wherever you are.
Frequently asked
What is 511 and how do I use it?
Most states run a 511 traffic service as a website, app, and phone number. It is the official feed for highway incidents, lane closures, and planned construction. Search your state's name plus "511."
Why does my navigation app miss road closures?
Navigation apps infer slowdowns from moving traffic, so they catch crashes quickly but miss planned closures nobody reported as incidents, like parades, festivals, water main repairs, and resurfacing work.
Where do I find local street closures for events?
On your city or county public works page, often under a "road closures" or "street closures" heading. Event and construction closures are posted there well before they appear in any navigation app.