Orange signs: they’re like yellow ones, but temporary

Published 1:30 am Friday, April 17, 2026

Q: Road signs in construction zones are orange. Aside from color, some look like ‘mandatory’ black and white signs, while others look like the yellow ‘advisory’ cautionary and warning signs. So, are orange signs (such as speeds) advisory or mandatory, or do they vary by shape or such?

A: We’re going to kick this off with a trivia question: How many colors are in the color code for highway signs? The answer is in the next sentence, so if you want to make a guess, stop reading now. Okay, the correct answer is 13, but if you guessed 11, I’d give it to you because two of the colors are “reserved for future designation.” Bonus points if you can name the two colors. Unless you’re a traffic engineer or you wrote this chapter of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), you’re probably making a wild guess, so who guessed coral and light blue?

All these colors (except coral and light blue, at the moment) serve an important purpose. Before you can ever read a sign, you can see its color. Right away, you know what’s essential and what you might choose to disregard.

If you don’t need food, gas or a place to sleep, you aren’t interested in tourist attractions, and you’re not in the middle of an evacuation, you can safely ignore the blue signs. But black and white signs? Ignore those at your peril. They’re the ones with the rules.

Orange signs are used for temporary traffic control. They function a lot like cautionary yellow signs, but are only used when the need is temporary, like during construction, maintenance, utility work, or an unplanned incident (more on that in a bit).

Although they’re typically warning signs, like letting you know a lane is ending or advising a slower speed, they might also provide guidance, like directing you to a detour route. Similar to yellow signs, temporary traffic control signs are advisory. However, they can be paired with regulatory signs; for example, an orange work zone plaque mounted above a black and white speed limit sign.

The key characteristic of orange signs is that they’re temporary. If you see an orange sign up ahead, that’s a clue to get ready for something different from the usual. You might still see yellow warning signs, like an advisory speed, in a temporary traffic zone. A yellow warning would only need to be replaced by an orange one if it isn’t appropriate during the temporary traffic changes; in our example, the yellow advisory speed may be too fast in a construction zone.

The color code isn’t just for signs. You’ve probably noticed that traffic cones, drums, and barricades are orange, too. That’s a requirement of the MUTCD when used for temporary traffic control. The takeaway here is that when you see orange, know that things aren’t the norm, so be alert to changes in your route. Except…

In an unplanned event that affects the normal flow of traffic, like a crash, natural disaster, hazardous material spill, or other emergency response, the signs might be pink. (Orange signs are allowed if pink ones aren’t available.) If you see pink warning signs, know that in addition to a change in traffic flow ahead, responders had minimal time to make decisions about signs and routes. Things might be even more complicated and chaotic than in a scheduled construction project where planners had plenty of time to determine the best way to redirect traffic. Although orange (and pink) signs aren’t regulatory, those colors are a bold reminder to give your full attention to your driving.

Doug Dahl is with the Traffic Safety Commission and has a weekly column in this newspaper.