Crosswalk markings
White lines or bars painted across a road to mark where pedestrians cross. Two parallel lines are the standard transverse design; rows of wide bars running in the direction of traffic are the high-visibility designs.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The MUTCD classifies crosswalk markings as transverse line or high-visibility, and requires them to be white. Transverse lines are 6 to 24 inches wide, and a marked crosswalk is at least 6 feet wide, or 8 feet at a crosswalk away from an intersection on a road posted at 40 mph or more. Not every crosswalk is marked: California's handbook says so, and that pedestrians have the right-of-way in marked or unmarked crosswalks. Away from an intersection, the MUTCD says, it is the markings that legally establish the crosswalk.
Also searched as: continental crosswalk, crosswalk lines, high visibility crosswalk.
Rules vary by state and country. This explains the sign's standard meaning in the U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices; it isn't legal advice.
High-visibility designs
The 11th edition (2023) names three high-visibility designs: longitudinal bars, a ladder (bars between two transverse lines) and bar pairs. Each needs at least three bars to count as a high-visibility crosswalk. The FHWA's list of high-visibility patterns names them bar pairs, continental and ladder, and the FHWA reports that high-visibility crosswalks can reduce pedestrian injury crashes by up to 40%. The 2009 edition spoke only of diagonal or longitudinal lines, with or without transverse lines.
Painted and coloured crosswalks
The MUTCD treats colour or patterns inside a crosswalk as an aesthetic surface treatment, placed between the white transverse lines. Their colours have to fall outside the colours used for traffic control devices, and they carry no advertising and nothing retroreflective.
Yellow crosswalks
California's handbook says school crossings may have yellow crosswalk lines. The MUTCD's 2009 and 2023 editions both make crosswalk markings white.
Look-alikes
A stop line is a single wide line across the lanes, set back from the crosswalk. A yield line of triangles may stand ahead of a crosswalk on a multi-lane road. The pedestrian crossing sign warns of a crossing.
More road signs
Browse symbols drawn with lines.
Sources
- MUTCD 11th Edition, Part 3: Markings, MUTCD 11th Edition (December 2023), Part 3, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Sections 3C.01, 3C.03, 3C.05, 3H.03
- MUTCD 2009 Edition, Chapter 3B: Pavement and Curb Markings, MUTCD 2009, Part 3, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Section 3B.18
- California Driver's Handbook, Section 7: Laws and Rules of the Road, California Department of Motor Vehicles, Crosswalks
- Crosswalk Visibility Enhancements, Proven Safety Countermeasures, U.S. Federal Highway Administration, Office of Safety, High-Visibility Crosswalks; Safety Benefits
Last reviewed October 2, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research