diff --git a/docs/manual/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html.en b/docs/manual/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html.en
index 7506ccb..8867578 100644
--- a/docs/manual/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html.en
+++ b/docs/manual/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html.en
@@ -60,14 +60,33 @@ NONE means you bypass the check for the header but still upgrade to WebSocket.
 ANY means that <code>Upgrade</code> will read in the request headers and use
 in the response <code>Upgrade</code></p>
 </div>
-<div id="quickview"><a href="https://www.apache.org/foundation/contributing.html" class="badge"><img src="https://www.apache.org/images/SupportApache-small.png" alt="Support Apache!" /></a><h3 class="directives">Directives</h3>
-<p>This module provides no
-            directives.</p>
+<div id="quickview"><h3 class="directives">Directives</h3>
+<ul id="toc">
+<li><img alt="" src="../images/down.gif" /> <a href="#proxywebsocketidletimeout">ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout</a></li>
+</ul>
+
 <h3>Bugfix checklist</h3><ul class="seealso"><li><a href="https://www.apache.org/dist/httpd/CHANGES_2.4">httpd changelog</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/buglist.cgi?bug_status=__open__&amp;list_id=144532&amp;product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;query_format=specific&amp;order=changeddate%20DESC%2Cpriority%2Cbug_severity&amp;component=mod_proxy_wstunnel">Known issues</a></li><li><a href="https://bz.apache.org/bugzilla/enter_bug.cgi?product=Apache%20httpd-2&amp;component=mod_proxy_wstunnel">Report a bug</a></li></ul><h3>See also</h3>
 <ul class="seealso">
 <li><code class="module"><a href="../mod/mod_proxy.html">mod_proxy</a></code></li>
 <li><a href="#comments_section">Comments</a></li></ul></div>
 
+<div class="top"><a href="#page-header"><img alt="top" src="../images/up.gif" /></a></div>
+<div class="directive-section"><h2><a name="ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout" id="ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout">ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout</a> <a name="proxywebsocketidletimeout" id="proxywebsocketidletimeout">Directive</a> <a title="Permanent link" href="#proxywebsocketidletimeout" class="permalink">&para;</a></h2>
+<table class="directive">
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Description">Description:</a></th><td>Sets the maximum amount of time to wait for data on the websockets tunnel</td></tr>
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Syntax">Syntax:</a></th><td><code>ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout <var>num</var>[ms]</code></td></tr>
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Default">Default:</a></th><td><code>ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout 0</code></td></tr>
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Context">Context:</a></th><td>server config, virtual host</td></tr>
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Status">Status:</a></th><td>Extension</td></tr>
+<tr><th><a href="directive-dict.html#Module">Module:</a></th><td>mod_proxy_wstunnel</td></tr>
+</table>
+    <p>This directive imposes a maximum amount of time for the tunnel to be
+    left open while idle. The timeout is considered in seconds by default, but
+    it is possible to increase the time resolution to milliseconds
+    adding the <em>ms</em> suffix.</p>
+
+</div>
+
 </div>
 <div class="bottomlang">
 <p><span>Available Languages: </span><a href="../en/mod/mod_proxy_wstunnel.html" title="English">&nbsp;en&nbsp;</a> |
diff --git a/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_wstunnel.c b/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_wstunnel.c
index fb53fe6..73da758 100644
--- a/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_wstunnel.c
+++ b/modules/proxy/mod_proxy_wstunnel.c
@@ -18,6 +18,10 @@
 
 module AP_MODULE_DECLARE_DATA proxy_wstunnel_module;
 
+typedef struct {
+    apr_time_t idle_timeout;
+} proxyws_dir_conf;
+
 /*
  * Canonicalise http-like URLs.
  * scheme is the scheme for the URL
@@ -111,6 +115,8 @@ static int proxy_wstunnel_request(apr_pool_t *p, request_rec *r,
     conn_rec *c = r->connection;
     apr_socket_t *sock = conn->sock;
     conn_rec *backconn = conn->connection;
+    proxyws_dir_conf *dconf = ap_get_module_config(r->per_dir_config,
+                                                   &proxy_wstunnel_module);
     char *buf;
     apr_bucket_brigade *header_brigade;
     apr_bucket *e;
@@ -188,10 +194,13 @@ static int proxy_wstunnel_request(apr_pool_t *p, request_rec *r,
     c->keepalive = AP_CONN_CLOSE;
 
     do { /* Loop until done (one side closes the connection, or an error) */
-        rv = apr_pollset_poll(pollset, -1, &pollcnt, &signalled);
+        rv = apr_pollset_poll(pollset, dconf->idle_timeout, &pollcnt, &signalled);
         if (rv != APR_SUCCESS) {
             if (APR_STATUS_IS_EINTR(rv)) {
                 continue;
+            } else if(APR_STATUS_IS_TIMEUP(rv)){
+               ap_log_rerror(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_ERR, rv, r, "RH: the connection has timed out");
+               return HTTP_REQUEST_TIME_OUT;
             }
             ap_log_rerror(APLOG_MARK, APLOG_ERR, rv, r, APLOGNO(02444) "error apr_poll()");
             return HTTP_INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR;
@@ -366,6 +375,38 @@ cleanup:
     return status;
 }
 
+static const char * proxyws_set_idle(cmd_parms *cmd, void *conf, const char *val)
+{
+    proxyws_dir_conf *dconf = conf;
+    if (ap_timeout_parameter_parse(val, &(dconf->idle_timeout), "s") != APR_SUCCESS)
+        return "ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout timeout has wrong format";
+
+    if (dconf->idle_timeout < 0)
+        return "ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout timeout has to be a non-negative number";
+
+    if (!dconf->idle_timeout) dconf->idle_timeout = -1; /* loop indefinitely */
+
+    return NULL;
+}
+
+static void *create_proxyws_dir_config(apr_pool_t *p, char *dummy)
+{
+    proxyws_dir_conf *new =
+        (proxyws_dir_conf *) apr_pcalloc(p, sizeof(proxyws_dir_conf));
+
+    new->idle_timeout = -1; /* no timeout */
+
+    return (void *) new;
+}
+
+static const command_rec ws_proxy_cmds[] =
+{
+    AP_INIT_TAKE1("ProxyWebsocketIdleTimeout", proxyws_set_idle, NULL, RSRC_CONF|ACCESS_CONF,
+                 "timeout for activity in either direction, unlimited by default."),
+
+    {NULL}
+};
+
 static void ap_proxy_http_register_hook(apr_pool_t *p)
 {
     proxy_hook_scheme_handler(proxy_wstunnel_handler, NULL, NULL, APR_HOOK_FIRST);
@@ -374,10 +415,10 @@ static void ap_proxy_http_register_hook(apr_pool_t *p)
 
 AP_DECLARE_MODULE(proxy_wstunnel) = {
     STANDARD20_MODULE_STUFF,
-    NULL,                       /* create per-directory config structure */
+    create_proxyws_dir_config,  /* create per-directory config structure */
     NULL,                       /* merge per-directory config structures */
     NULL,                       /* create per-server config structure */
     NULL,                       /* merge per-server config structures */
-    NULL,                       /* command apr_table_t */
+    ws_proxy_cmds,              /* command apr_table_t */
     ap_proxy_http_register_hook /* register hooks */
 };