Along Pennsylvania’s freeways, there are emergency detour routes that allows travelers to bypass traffic accidents, inclement weather, and other road closures. Colors commonly used are black, blue, green, orange, and red. The detours are perhaps one of the least mapped features across Pennsylvania.
The best sources to consult are street-level photos from Mapillary and Bing Maps to establish which highways the particular route follows. I also recommend having a map nearby and to use colored pencils to mark the detour on the map.
Tagging the colored detours is quite easy using iD. Simply create a new Relation -> Route Features -> Detour Route.
Under Name, type in the name to be used, for example Orange Detour (I 79 Exits 121-130). Colors are used multiple times, so it is necessary to differentiate between them by including the ref for the highway being detoured and also the exit numbers that are being bypassed.
The Route Number in this case is Orange.
Because these detours are bidirectional, the from and to tags aren’t necessary.
The Colour tag would be orange.
Since I-79 is being detoured in this example, the Detour tag would be I 79.
Don’t forget to tag the directional role of the relation if the road being tagged is one way.
To make tagging easier, consult the OSM Wiki under the Detour page.
I have also published a YouTube video showing the best way of how to tag the relation.
I hope y’all find the resources helpful for adding the emergency detour routes across Pennsylvania.