A 2 a.m. Lane Closure With Nobody in Sight
It is 1:50 a.m. on a four-lane divided arterial in Idaho Falls. A resurfacing project has been active all week. A permanent 45 MPH sign stands outside the project, and a temporary speed limit sign inside the work zone reads 35 MPH. Orange ROAD WORK AHEAD and LANE CLOSED AHEAD signs are in place, but no workers, equipment operators, or flaggers are anywhere visible; a paver sits idle 300 feet off the shoulder. You must merge left into a single open lane. A portable traffic signal at the merge shows steady red. A flagger's paddle reading SLOW is propped against a barrel, unattended. Temporary orange lane lines have been taped over the old white dashes and sit slightly offset, so both are visible. On the opposite side, a pilot car with a FOLLOW ME sign is waiting.
1. Must you obey the 35 MPH temporary limit at 2 a.m. when no workers are present? Does Idaho's doubled-fine work-zone provision apply?
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Yes, obey the 35. A temporary speed limit sign inside a signed work zone is a regulatory device in force when it is displayed, unless the sign carries a condition plaque such as WHEN WORKERS PRESENT or WHEN FLASHING. Nothing in the setup says that, so the limit stands at 2 a.m. with the site dark and empty.
Separate question: the penalty enhancement. Idaho's enhanced work-zone penalties for moving violations attach when workers are present in the zone. With no workers on site, the posted 35 is still enforceable as an ordinary speed limit, but you should not assume the doubled fine will be added. The two ideas are often conflated:
- The numeric limit is about the roadway configuration - narrow lane, offset lines, no shoulder, merged traffic.
- The enhancement is about protecting people on foot in the zone.
Either way, 35 is the right speed here: at night, in a taped-off lane that is narrower than the original, with an unattended signal controlling the merge, 45 is too fast to react to a stall or a barrel in the lane.
2. The portable signal is red, the paddle is propped and unattended, and no opposing traffic is visible. What do you do?
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Stop and wait. Several things are true at once, and only one of them governs:
- The portable signal is an active traffic-control device at the merge. Red means stop and remain stopped, just like any signal.
- The SLOW paddle is not directing anyone - it is leaning against a barrel, with no flagger holding it. A propped paddle has no authority and no information value; do not read it as permission to roll through.
- Lack of visible opposing traffic does not matter. The pilot car on the far side and the alternating signal arrangement mean a vehicle may be released toward you at any moment, around a curve or behind equipment.
If the red persists for several full cycles with no pilot car and no traffic either direction, treat it as a signal malfunction: come to a complete stop, confirm the single open lane is clear in both directions, and proceed through slowly, prepared to yield. If a flagger arrives and begins directing traffic, the flagger's hand signals outrank the signal immediately.
3. Which markings control - the temporary orange lines or the original white dashes? And what does the pilot car change about your speed?
Read the worked answer
The temporary orange markings control. In a work zone, orange is the color reserved for temporary traffic control, and taped or painted orange lines are placed to route traffic around the actual hazard - in this case the resurfacing limits and the paver. The old white dashes are a superseded pattern, not a lane you may use. Because the orange lines are offset from the white ones, there will be a moment when the two patterns disagree; follow orange, stay centered in the taped lane, and do not drift toward the wider white-dash path, which leads into the work area.
The pilot car converts the merge into a convoy operation:
- Follow it at the pace it sets, with a gap of roughly two to three seconds.
- Do not pass it, even in the open lane, and do not tailgate - it may stop suddenly for equipment crossing.
- FOLLOW ME has no speed value of its own, but the pilot car's speed is your practical ceiling regardless of the posted 35.
If the lane markings conflict in a way that makes the path genuinely ambiguous, slow to a crawl rather than picking whichever line looks more generous.