What does the Road Narrows sign mean?
The Road Narrows sign (MUTCD W5-1) is a warning sign under the federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the national standard the states build from. The running width shrinks, on one edge or on both, while the lane count holds. Less room beside the mirrors, nothing to merge out of.
Source: MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2C, Table 2C-1, checked 2026-09-09.
What shape and color is the Road Narrows sign?
| MUTCD code | W5-1 |
|---|---|
| Group | Warning signs |
| Shape | Diamond |
| Color | Yellow background, black symbol and border |
What a diamond means. A warning. It tells you what the road does next and obliges you to do nothing in particular, which is the distinction test writers probe most often.
What yellow means. General warning of a permanent condition ahead.
Warning signs. A diamond reports a condition and orders nothing. What you do about it is left to you, and that gap between a report and an order is what test writers keep probing.
What is the Road Narrows sign often mistaken for?
Lane Ends (W4-2), which removes a lane, and Narrow Bridge (W5-2), which is a specific structure.
|  |  |
|---|---|---|
| GroupWarning signs | GroupWarning signs | GroupWarning signs |
| ShapeDiamond | ShapeDiamond | ShapeDiamond |
| ColorYellow background, black symbol and border | ColorYellow background, black symbol and border | ColorYellow background, black symbol and border |
| What it meansThe running width shrinks, on one edge or on both, while the lane count holds. | What it meansOne of the through lanes ends ahead and its traffic must move over. | What it meansTwo lanes still cross the structure, but the shoulders disappear and the barriers pinch in, leaving far less room either side of the mirrors than the approach had. |
What are the other warning signs?
All 55 warning signs on one page, or every US road sign by shape and color.
Test yourself on this sign and the rest of the set with a road signs practice test for Florida, Texas or California.
The artwork is the federal design itself, which the manual dedicates to the public domain in MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 1, Section 1D.06, checked 2026-09-09. The Interstate Shield, the 511 pictograph and the National Scenic Byway graphic are named exceptions and are not reproduced anywhere on this site.
Source: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, 11th Edition. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Federal Highway Administration or any state agency.