Ahighway shield orroute marker is asign denoting theroute number of ahighway, usually in the form of a symbolic shape with the route number enclosed. As the focus of the sign, the route number is usually the sign's largest element, with other items on the sign rendered in smaller sizes or contrasting colors. Highway shields are used by travellers, commuters, and all levels of government for identifying, navigating, and organising routes within a given jurisdiction. Simplified highway shields often appear on maps.
There are several distinct uses for the highway shield:
International (style may vary according to local country):
National:
 |
| Controlled-access highway | Primary route (usually calledNational/Federal Highway/Route) | Other routes (usually calledRegional/County/etc. Route) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andorra | Not present |  | Carretera general |  | Carretera secundaria | |
| Albania |  | Autostrada |  | Rruga shtetëtore |  | Rrugë rrethi |
| Armenia |  | Միջպետական ճանապարհMijpetakan twanaparh |  | Համապետական ճանապարհHamapetakan twanaparh | Տեղական ճանապարհTeghakan twanaparh | |
| Argentina |  | Ruta nacional |  | Ruta provincial | ||
| Austria |  | Autobahn |  | Schnellstraße |  | Landesstraße |
 | Bundesstraße | |||||
| Azerbaijan |  | Magistral avtomobil yol |  | Respublika əhəmiyyətli yol | Yerli əhəmiyyətli yol | |
| Belarus |  | МагістральMagistrałʹ |  | Рэспубліканская аўтамабільная дарогаRespubłikanskaja aŭtamabiłʹnaja daroga | ||
| Belgium |  | Dutch:AutosnelwegFrench:Autoroute |  | Dutch:N-weg French:Route nationale | ||
| Bolivia |  | Ruta nacional |  | Ruta departemental |  | Ruta municipal |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina |  | Autoput |  | Magistralna cesta |  | |
 | Brze ceste | |||||
| Brazil |  |  | ||||
| Bulgaria |  | AвтомагистралаAvtomagistrala |  | Републикански пътRepublikanski pǎt | ||
| Cambodia |  |  | ||||
| Central African Republic | Not present |  | Route nationale |  | Route régionale | |
| Chile | .svg) | Autopista | .svg) | Ruta nacional | .svg) | Ruta regional |
| China |  | 高速公路Gāosù Gōnglù | .svg) | 国道Guódào | .svg) | 省道Shěngdào |
| Colombia |  Ruta nacional | |||||
| Croatia | | Autocesta |  | Državna cesta |  | Županijska cesta |
| Cuba |  | Autopista |  | Circuito /Carretera |  | Circuito /Carretera |
| Cyprus |  | ΑυτοκινητόδρομοςAftokinitódromos |  |  | ||
| Czech Republic |  | Dálnice |  | Silnice | ||
| Denmark | Uses E-road or primary route signs |  | Primærrute |  | Sekundærrute | |
| Ecuador |  |  | Via Colectora | |||
| Estonia | Not present |  | Põhimaantee |  | Tugimaantee | |
| Finland |  | Valtatie |  | Kantatie |  | Seututie |
| France |  | Autoroute | | Route nationale |  | Route départementale |
 | Route territoriale (Corsica) | |||||
| Georgia |  | საერთაშორისო მნიშვნელობის გზაSaertashoriso mnishvnelobis gza |  | შიდასახელმწიფოებრივი მნიშვნელობის გზაShidasakhelmts'ipoebrivi mnishvnelobis gza | ადგილობრივი მნიშვნელობის გზაAdgilobrivi mnishvnelobis gza | |
| Germany |  | Autobahn |  | Bundesstraße | L 1 | Landesstraße |
| K 1 | Kreisstraße | |||||
| Ghana |  |  | ||||
| Greece |  | ΑυτοκινητόδρομοςAftokinitódromos |  | Εθνική ΟδόςEthnikí Odós | ||
| Hungary | _Otszogletu_kek_tabla.svg) | Autópálya | _Otszogletu_zold_tabla.svg) | Főút | ||
| India |  | National expressway |  | National highway |  | State highway |
| Indonesia |  | Jalan tol |  | Jalan nasional | ||
| Iran |  | آزادراهAzadrah |  | بزرگراهBozorgrah | | جادهJadeh |
| Ireland |  | MotorwayIrish:Mótarbhealach |  | National road Irish:Bóthar náisiúnta |  | Regional road Irish:Bóthar réigiúnach |
| Israel |  | כביש ארצי ראשיKvīsh Arzī Roshī |  | כביש לאומיKvīsh Ləʾummī |  | כביש אזוריKvīsh Asōrī |
 | כביש מקומיKvīsh Mɘqōmī | |||||
| Italy |  | Autostrada |  | Strada statale |  | Strada regionale |
 | Strada provinciale | |||||
| Japan |  | 高速道路Kōsokudōro |  | 一般国道Ippan kokudō |  | 県道/府道/都道/道道Kendō/Fudō/Todō/Dōdō[a] |
| Jordan |  | |||||
| Kazakhstan |   |  | ||||
| Kosovo |  | Albanian:Autostrada |  | Albanian:Magjistralja | ||
| Laos |  | |||||
| Latvia |  | Autoceļš |  | Reģionālais autoceļš |  | Vietējais autoceļš |
| Lithuania |  | Automagistralė |  | Krašto kelias | 1 | Rajoninai kelias |
| Luxembourg | _number.png) | Luxembourgish:AutobunnFrench:Autoroute |  | Luxembourgish:Nationalstrooss French:Route nationale | .svg) | French:Chemin repris[b] |
| Malaysia |  | Lebuhraya |  | Jalan persekutuan | ||
| Mexico |  | Carretera federal | .svg) | Carretera estatal | ||
| Moldova | Not present |  | Drum național |  | Drum republicane | |
| Montenegro |  | Autoput |  | Magistralni put | ||
| Namibia |  |  |  | |||
| Nepal |  |  | ||||
| Netherlands |  | Autosnelweg |  | Autoweg | ||
| New Zealand |  State Highway | |||||
| Nicaragua | .svg) | Carretera centroamericana |  | Carretera troncal principal |  | Carretera troncal secundaria |
| North Macedonia |  | Avtopat |  | Polaavtopat |  | |
| Norway | Uses E-road or primary route signs |  | Riksvei |  | Fylkesvei | |
| Pakistan |  |  | ||||
| Paraguay |  | Ruta nacional |  | Ruta departamental | ||
| Peru |  |  | ||||
| Philippines | .svg) | Expressway | .svg) | National road | ||
| Poland |  | Autostrada |  | Droga krajowa |  | Droga wojewódzka |
 | Droga ekspresowa | |||||
| Portugal |  | Autoestrada | N 1 | Estrada nacional | ||
| Romania |  | Autostradă |  | Drum național |  | Drum județean |
| Russia |  |  |  | |||
| Serbia |  | Autoput |  | Magistralni put | | Regionalni put |
| Singapore |  Expressway | |||||
| Slovakia [sk] |  | Diaľnica |  | Rýchlostná cesta |  | Cesta II. triedy |
 | Cesta I. triedy | |||||
| Slovenia |  | Avtocesta |  | Hitra cesta |  | Regionalna cesta |
 | Glavna cesta | |||||
| South Africa |  | National route |  | |||
| South Korea |  | 고속국도Gosokgukdo |  | 일반국도Ilbangukdo |  | 지방도Jibangdo |
| Spain |  | Autovía |  | Carretera nacional |  | Carretera comarcal |
 | Autopista |  | Carretera principal | |||
| Sweden | Uses E-road or primary route signs |  | Riksväg |  | Länsväg | |
| Switzerland |  | Autobahn |  | Hauptstraße | 1 | Kantonsstraße |
| Taiwan |  | 國道Guódào |  | 省道Shěngdào |  | 縣道Xiàndào |
| Thailand |   |  |  | ทางหลงชนบทthang long chon-na-bot | ||
 | ทางหลวงท้องถิ่นthang-luang thong-thin | |||||
| Turkey |  | Otoyol |  | Devlet yolu |  | İl yolu |
| Ukraine |  |  |  | |||
 | ||||||
| United Kingdom |  | Motorway |  | A-road |  | B-road |
| United States |  | Interstate Highway |  | U.S. Numbered Highway |  | State Highway[c] |
| Uruguay |  | Ruta nacional | ||||
| Venezuela | .svg) | Autopista | .svg) | Ruta local | ||
| Vietnam |  | Cao tốc |  | Quốc lộ | ||
Outside the table, some countries also have dedicated shields forlocal roads ormunicipal-level highways:
Rrugë komunale
Local road /Yhdystie
Local road / Irish:Bóthar áitiúil
Strada comunale
Carretera local |
Australia has maintained distinctly different trends pertaining to highway shields in the past and will continue in this vein somewhat, despite the conversion to alpha-numeric routes and shields. Alpha-numeric route numbering has been in use inTasmania since the 1970s, and was introduced in the mainland states from 1996, with the state ofVictoria being the first to implement the policy on the mainland.
Prior to this conversion and concurrently, Federal Highway (gold-on-green squared-off bullet), National Highway (black-on-white squared-off bullet), State Highway (blue bullet) and Tourist Route (white-on-brown rounded pentagon) shields existed. In Victoria Freeway shields were used (white-on-green with 'F' prefix) until the late 1980s, while during the 1990sQueensland andNew South Wales implemented a hexagonal blue-on-whiteMetroad system of urban arterial routes. TheWestern Ring Road (nowM80) inMelbourne initially used a shield quite similar to the U.S.Interstate shield, albeit with 'Ring Road' written instead of 'Interstate' and with 2 peaks rather than 3.
To further complicate matters, with the introduction of the alpha-numeric system, roads that are federally funded (or Federal Highways) have a squared-off bullet encompassing the alpha-numeric designation. Freeways and dual-carriageway roads often use an 'M' prefix, particularly in Victoria. In addition, trapezoidal signs are placed every 5 km on major regional highways and freeways indicating the distance to the post office of the next city or major town on the route. These signs usually only have the first letter of the destination; two or three letters are used if there is ambiguity between nearby towns or when the place name consists of two words.
Federal and state highways shields are standardized in Brazil by the National Transit Department (DENATRAN), but implementation is not always consistent nor even existent. In many states, highway names appear onhighway location markers and guide signs with no highway shield.
Each province dictates the type of shields used as highway transportation is a provincial responsibility. However, the green and white signage for theTrans-Canada Highway is used nationwide. Each province has their own shape for the sign, though.
Shields for core highways inAlberta use black route number on a white squared-off bullet, while shields for local highways (500-986) use black route number on a white oval. Both variants feature the provincial wordmark across the top, although it may be omitted on certain guide signs.
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Standard shields for highways inBritish Columbia use blue route number on a white bullet, with the provincialshield of arms placed at the top. Certain highways (e.g.Crowsnest Highway,Southern Yellowhead Highway andNisga'a Highway) use their own variations on the default provincial highway shield.
Major or400-series highways inOntario have different kinds of shields depending on usage:
The exception is the private407 Express Toll Route, which uses black route number on a white oval marker for both purposes.
Secondary provincial highways use anisosceles trapezoid as markers, while tertiary provincial highway markers use a rectangle with rounded corners.
Numbered roads maintained by Ontario'scounties, regional municipalities and single-tier municipalities use an inverted isosceles trapezoid as markers. The default colour scheme is black text on a white background, although certain jurisdictions use their own colour combinations (e.g. white on blue inNiagara, gold on black inPeel, and gold on green inHalton).
On the other hand, instead of an inverted trapezoid, the single-tier city ofToronto uses aroundel for its municipally-maintained freeways, theGardiner Expressway and theDon Valley Parkway. The design is two-tone gold-on-green, with the road name in white on the green outer ring, and either the cardinal direction (for reassurance markers) or an arrow (for guidance to the freeway) in black on the gold inner disc. The city's other roads, such asAllen Road, do not have their own shields.
Shields for controlled-accessautoroutes inQuebec use white route number on a blue bullet, with a white stylised drawing of a dual carriageway and an overpass on red across the top. Other provincial routes use white route number on a green French shield with three whitefleur-de-lys across the top, while forest routes use white route number on a blue French shield with three white stylised trees across the top.
In mainland China, highway shields use specific letter designations to indicate the administrative level of the road, as outlined by the "Highway Route Signage Rules and National Road Numbering" (GB/T 917-2017). The designations are:
For general roads (like general national and provincial roads, county, village, and special-use roads), the shield displays the administrative letter "G(S/X/Y/C/Z)" followed by a three-digit number. National expressways specifically have shields that begin with the letter "G". For main arteries like radial roads from the capital, north-south vertical roads, east-west horizontal roads, and regional ring roads, the shield shows "G" followed by up to two digits. For bypasses, connecting roads, and parallel roads, the shield combines the "G" designation with a two-digit main line number, a type identifier, and a sequence number.
Provincial expressways start with the letter "S". The main arteries and city bypass/connecting road shields display the "S" followed by up to two or two digits, respectively. These provincial expressway shields typically have a yellow background with black characters, showing the province's abbreviation followed by "Expressway", like "Su Expressway" for Jiangsu or "Zhe Expressway" for Zhejiang. In provinces with dense provincial expressway networks, like Guangdong, where S1-S99 cannot cover all roads, shorter connecting roads may use an "S" followed by a four-digit number.
National expressways (国道) feature a red background at the top of their shields, indicating their status as national routes. Provincial expressways (省道) have a yellow background at the top. All other road categories use a white background for their shields.
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German Autobahns as the nation's federal controlled-access highway system use a blue shield with slanted edges and white lettering. Other federal highways use a yellow shield with black lettering. The color schemes mirror the country's directional signage coloring system on these two types of roads.
TheHong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System states that the standard shield should consist of a yellow, bullet-shaped shield with the route number in black color. It is used on all numbered routes inHong Kong.
Thenational highways of Japan use a triangular blue shield with a white route number. Theexpressways use a rectangular green shield with a white letter and number combination with the name of the route written in Japanese and English. Routes onurban expressways are signed with a green shield with white numbers. TheShuto Expressway system also uses this sign but with the route name written in kanji-characters above the number.Prefecture-maintained routes use a hexagonal blue shield with a white route number, letter, or combination of both.
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According to theManual on Traffic Control Devices Standard Traffic Signsarchived byMalaysian Public Works Department, a standard Malaysian highway shield consists of a yellow hexagon shield with black border line which resembles the Public Works Department's logo itself. The highway shield standard is used for allexpressways,federal andstate roads in Malaysia, which can be distinguished through the numbering scheme used(please refer to theRoad signs in Malaysia article for details).
New Zealand shields are similar to the bullet-shaped markers used in Hong Kong, but are red rather than yellow.
TheSouthern African Development CommunityRoad Traffic Signs Manual specifies designs for "confirmation route markers" for numbered national, provincial, regional and metropolitan routes. The national route marker is pentagonal, the provincial route marker is diamond-shaped, and the regional and metropolitan route markers are rectangular. The background is blue when used on afreeway and green for other roads. There is a white border and the lettering is yellow.[1]
The expressway shields are shaped likeU.S. Highway shields and colored like Interstate shields with red, white and blue, the colors of theflag of South Korea. The national route shields are a blue oval, and local route shields are a yellow square.
The national highway shields are in the shape of thePrunus mume, the national flower ofTaiwan. Provincial highways have triangular shields similar in shape to that of thenational highways of Japan, with different colored backgrounds to distinguish between ordinary roads and expressways. Thecounty and city highways have a square shield, while its spur roads as well as township and district roads have rectangular ones.
The United States'Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) gives standard designs for highways in theInterstate Highway System andU.S. Route system. TheInterstate shield is the only trademarked highway marker in use in the United States (being registered by theAmerican Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, thetrade association of the states'departments of transportation and also astandards organization for highway engineering), and theU.S. Route shield was inspired by theGreat Seal of the United States. The MUTCD also provides default designs for state highways (the circular highway shield) and county highways (a blue pentagon with yellow text).[2] However, states are free to use any design for their numbered routes; as of 2021[update] only five states (Delaware,Iowa,Kentucky,Mississippi, andNew Jersey) use the default shield on their primary systems, and all others use a custom design.Oklahoma used the default until 2006, when it changed to a state outline.Maryland uses the default sporadically for locally maintained sections of state-numbered highways, most often inBaltimore, but otherwise uses a different design.Virginia andWest Virginia use the default for their secondary state routes but different designs for their primary state routes. There areseveral additional designs used in the other states and territories. State outlines are used for primary numbered routes inAlabama,Arizona,Arkansas,Florida,Georgia,Idaho,Louisiana,Missouri,Nevada, new signs inNorth Dakota,Ohio, and Oklahoma, and for secondary numbered routes inTexas.Tennessee andSouth Carolina also incorporate state outlines into their shields. Other options include basic geometric shapes besides a circle (like squares inIllinois andIndiana, and diamonds inMichigan andNorth Carolina), or a design representing the state (likePennsylvania'skeystone design,Utah's beehive,Kansas'sunflower, andNew Hampshire'sOld Man of the Mountain).Washington uses a silhouette ofGeorge Washington's bust.New Mexico uses the default circle but adds aZia sun symbol inside the circle around the number. Every state butCalifornia uses a square or rectangular sign for its state highways, mainly to save money on both custom cutting and to be contained on a rectangular sign with other route markers.Wisconsin's symbol is a nod to its former triangular shields, while utilizing a second rectangular outline to better fit a number at full-height. Some U.S. counties and townships also have unique shield designs, though most use the MUTCD default.
Many countries worldwide, such as theUnited Kingdom andFrance, do not use shields, instead relying on text representations of highway numbers. Road numbers (the term "highway" is not in general use in the UK) are prefixed by a letter indicating the type of road, for exampleM1, A1, B123 in the UK;A1,N1, D1 in France. These are sometimes highlighted with a different background color, depending on the class of highway and the context of the sign. TheVienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals specifies that "road identification signs" consist of the route number framed in a rectangle, a shield, or the relevant state's route classification symbol (if one exists).[3] The extent to which such signs are used varies between countries.
In the United States,route shield pavement markings sometimes accompany physical highway shield signs or serve as replacements for them.
Media related toHighway signs at Wikimedia Commons