What Does The Hourglass Shape On A Road Sign Mean?

If you see an hourglass-shaped symbol on a road sign, don't be confused by it. Despite how it looks, it has nothing to do with time. Rather, it's an alert that the road ahead is about to get a lot narrower. Most of the time, this sign is placed before a bridge that's smaller than the road it's connected to, and there may only be enough room for one car to pass over it at a time, hence the sign to give drivers proper notice (which appears on both sides of the highway for both directions of traffic).

Other variations of the sign can appear when there's going to be a sharp reduction in pavement width up ahead. In those instances, it'll look more like half an hourglass on one side (the side with reduced space) and a vertical line on the other. Whatever the case, the sign is there to remind you to pay attention and get ready to yield to other drivers on the road if necessary.

A "Narrows" sign can also mark the transition from a standard two-lane road to a road that's suddenly become at least two feet narrower. While a narrow bridge sign lets you know about an approaching narrow bridge, the former lets you know about a more lasting reduction in pavement width. The latter is more of a temporary reduction in clearance that only lasts for the length of the bridge.

Whether it's the pavement, the road, or the bridge that's going to narrow ahead, your responsibility as a driver remains the same. If it's a narrowing bridge, the person who got there first has the right-of-way. If it's a narrowing road, yield to the drivers in the other lanes before merging out of the narrowing lane. Diagonal yellow and black striped object markers and pavement markings may be there for extra emphasis, but not always. That's why it's important to keep your eyes on the road ahead, be aware of the space and the drivers around you, and proceed with caution whenever you see one of these hourglass-looking symbols on a road sign.