Guide and Informational Signs
Guide and Informational Signs
Guide signs direct you to destinations, routes, and services; informational signs tell you what is nearby. They are not commands, but the exam tests whether you can use color and text to choose a lane or an exit correctly.
Core rules
- Green guide signs give destinations, distances, and exits; on freeways they carry exit numbers based on mileposts.
- Blue signs mark motorist services such as gas, food, lodging, and hospitals.
- Brown signs mark recreation and cultural areas: parks, trails, and historic sites.
- White rectangular signs are generally regulatory, not guide.
- Route markers identify the road: the interstate shield, the U.S. route shield, and the Indiana state route marker.
- Mile markers count from the south or west state line and match exit numbers; knowing your mile marker helps you report your location in an emergency.
- Informational signs may give a rest-area distance, a hospital symbol, or a NO SERVICES warning on a long stretch.
Worked example
A green sign reads Indianapolis 42 - Louisville 110, with an exit tab reading EXIT 16. The sign tells you that Indianapolis is 42 miles ahead and Louisville 110 miles ahead, and that the exit you are approaching is exit 16. The number is not a speed or a route number; it is the exit's milepost. If you needed Indianapolis, you would stay on the route, not take exit 16 unless a destination sign directed you to.
Traps
Blue is for services, not recreation; brown is for parks and historic sites. Do not read a green destination sign as a regulatory instruction, and do not confuse a mile marker with a speed limit or route number.