Motorway sign
Motorway direction sign
What does the Motorway direction sign mean?
Blue direction signs show the way onto or along a motorway. A junction number may be shown on a black patch.
Also known as: Blue motorway sign
What it means
The sign directs you to a motorway, or along it, with the motorway number and destinations.
Blue backgrounds are used for direction signs on motorways, and for blue panels on other direction signs that lead to a motorway.
If a blue sign shows the motorway symbol, the motorway or its slip road starts at the junction. If the motorway number is in brackets without the symbol, follow the road shown to reach the motorway.
Where you'll see it
On motorways and on the approach to junctions leading to a motorway.
Rules to know
Blue direction signs, with the motorway symbol and large route numbers, indicate that a motorway or motorway slip road leads directly from the junction. The junction number is shown on a black background.
Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 92
A motorway number in brackets on a blue background, without the motorway symbol, shows the route to take from the junction to reach the motorway, which is not accessed directly from there.
Know Your Traffic Signs, p. 92
Signs on motorways have blue backgrounds.
The Highway Code, Traffic signs
Common mistakes
Mistake: Expecting to join the motorway at a junction where its number is in brackets.
Instead: Brackets without the motorway symbol mean you follow that road to reach the motorway later.
Test yourself
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© Crown copyright. Free to reuse under the Open Government Licence v3.0, as long as the sign is reproduced accurately and not in a misleading context.
Related signs
See also
Primary route direction
Information sign
Green signs: primary routes.
See also
Start of motorway
Motorway sign
Where motorway regulations begin.
More motorway signs
All motorway signs
Sources
- Know Your Traffic Signs (Department for Transport, Sixth edition, 2023), Motorway signs, signals and road markings, p. 92
- The Highway Code, Traffic signs
Sign image: Department for Transport, Traffic sign images (diagram 2902). © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This page explains the sign in our own words; for the full rules, see The Highway Code. How we source and check content