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Learn About Pavement Markings

Pavement markings are a very important part of the communication system for road users along our Nation's highways and roads. Can you imagine traveling on a freeway, major highway, or city street without the information that pavement markings provide? Pavement markings help you correctly position your vehicle, guide you through the many different situations you encounter, indicate where passing is allowed, and warn you of upcoming conditions.

In many cases, pavement markings supplement and enhance the messages of other traffic control devices such as traffic signs and signals. Sometimes pavement markings are the only effective way of providing positive guidance or communicating certain regulations or other messages. Because markings are located on the roadway directly in line with the travel path, they can be more prominently visible than other devices and you don't have to take your eyes off the road to view them.

Pavement markings communicate their messages to you through a uniform system of colors, patterns, widths, symbols, and words. Uniformity of these features throughout the Nation, as required by the MUTCD, makes it possible for you to instantly recognize the meaning of the markings in any given situation and quickly react to them, enabling you to travel safely and efficiently along the roadway.

You probably don't give much thought to how pavement markings are such a key part of your driving every day, and you may not realize there is a "system" or uniform pavement markings that make them instantly recognizable and understandable, no matter where you travel.

You can learn more about pavement markings in the pages that follow. Links to specific section(s) of the MUTCD are included as appropriate. Start by clicking below on "Pavement Markings Types" and you can sequentially follow a series of pages that will then take you to the next section, Pavement Marking Colors, etc. Alternatively, you can skip directly to any particular subject that interests you.

When you are finished learning about pavement markings, you can take a Pavement Markings Quiz to see how much you know!

Go to Pavement Markings Quiz