Abstract In this paper, the rescheduling arc routing problem is introduced. This is a dynamic routing and scheduling problem that considers adjustments to an initial routing itinerary when one or more vehicle failures occur during the execution stage and the original plan must be modified. We minimize the operational and schedule disruption costs. Formulations based on mixed‐integer programming are presented to compare different policies in the rerouting phase. A solution strategy is developed when both costs are evaluated and it is necessary to find a solution quickly. Computational tests on a large set of instances compare the different decision‐maker policies.