Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders: What Councils Need to Know
Temporary traffic regulation orders (TTROs) let traffic authorities temporarily restrict or prohibit road use for works, danger, damage or certain other statutory purposes. The route, timing and publicity differ between a planned temporary order and a short-duration restriction imposed by temporary notice, so the terms should not be used interchangeably.
Editorially reviewed 14 July 2026. Primary sources: sections 14 and 15 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 and the Road Traffic (Temporary Restrictions) Procedure Regulations 1992. This guide describes the general Great Britain framework; authorities must check territorial amendments, special-road rules and their legal team's process for the particular restriction.
Planned temporary orders: the two newspaper stages
For the general procedure in regulation 3 of the 1992 Regulations, the traffic authority must:
- publish notice of its intention to make the order in one or more newspapers circulating in the affected area not less than seven days before making the order; and
- publish notice that the order has been made in one or more newspapers circulating in the affected area within 14 days after making it.
Those are two separate notices tied to the date the order is made. The notice-of-intention publication is not simply a notice placed “before the closure starts,” and a website or social post does not replace the newspaper steps in regulation 3.
The Regulations also prescribe notification to specified bodies and the information each notice must contain. Street notices and traffic signs have their own rules. Use the schedules and the authority's approved template rather than treating a newspaper advert as the whole TTRO process.
Longer orders and Gazette publication
Different advance-publicity rules apply to an order that falls within section 15(2), where works are expected to take longer than 18 months. Regulation 6 uses a 21-day advance local-newspaper period and adds prior publication in the London Gazette for a road in England or Wales, or the Edinburgh Gazette for a road in Scotland.
That is a specific longer-works procedure. It should not be turned into a blanket claim that every TTRO requires a Gazette notice.
Temporary notices are a different route
Section 14(2) allows a traffic authority to impose a restriction by notice where it is necessary and expedient without delay. Regulations 10–12 govern that route, including notice content, notification and display requirements. They do not reproduce regulation 3's general local-newspaper publication steps for a planned order.
A restriction by notice is also shorter-lived: section 15 generally limits it to five days for works or litter-clearing purposes and 21 days for danger or risk of serious road damage. If a restriction must continue, establish the correct order process rather than assuming an emergency notice can simply remain in force.
Duration of an order
Section 15 generally limits an order to six months for a footpath, bridleway, restricted byway, cycle track or byway open to all traffic, and 18 months in other cases. A works order can exceed 18 months where the statutory conditions are met and the required statement is included. Extensions and directions have separate procedures.
A defensible publication file
For each order, record:
- the enabling power and whether the authority is using an order or notice;
- the date of making, commencement date and intended duration;
- the newspaper title and actual date for the notice of intention;
- the newspaper title and actual date for the notice of making;
- copies of the complete published pages;
- statutory-body notifications, display evidence and traffic-sign records; and
- any exception, extension or continuation relied upon.
Arrange a TTRO newspaper notice
Start a traffic regulation order notice to review the proposed publication and price before placement. Gazetted supports newspaper booking and publication records; the traffic authority remains responsible for selecting the correct statutory route, notice content and dates.
