RXR pavement marking

How to read it

The MUTCD's crossing marking is an X, the letters RR and white lines across the lane, with a no-passing zone on two-lane roads that have a center line, all in reflective white. It is set so part of the X is level with the round advance warning sign, and stretched lengthways because drivers see it at a low angle. Pennsylvania's manual lists R X R among the words painted on the road, before a railroad crossing. Florida's notes that the markings may be painted on the approach before the stop line. This page describes the national standard and isn’t legal advice; what a driver must do at a crossing is set by state law.

Also searched as: railroad crossing pavement marking, RXR on road, X on road.

Where it is required

The marking goes in each approach lane of every paved crossing with signals or gates, and at other crossings where the speed limit is 40 mph or more. It may be left out where the limit is lower, or in urban areas, if other devices give enough warning. On multi-lane roads each lane gets its own RXR, as the FHWA and FRA's crossing handbook puts it. The 2023 MUTCD makes that decision the job of the crossing's diagnostic team; the 2009 edition left it to an engineering study.

RXR, the round sign and the crossbuck

The three use the same X in different places. The round yellow advance warning sign and the RXR marking come first, ahead of the crossing; the white crossbuck stands at the tracks.