Understanding Overhead Freeway Signs

Overhead Freeway Direction

Where: On a gantry above the lanes of a freeway, where the freeway splits and the lanes lead to different destinations.

Purpose: To show which lane leads where. An overhead board is used precisely because the message belongs to one lane rather than to the whole road — the sign sits above the lane it describes.

Action Required by Driver: Read the board above your own lane, not the one beside it. If your destination is served by a different lane, change lanes in good time and one at a time. At a freeway split the lanes diverge quickly, and a late correction is rarely possible.

Overhead means lane-specific

This is the habit worth building: a sign on a pole at the roadside applies to the road, while a sign above a lane applies to that lane. The same rule governs lane-use control signals and overhead diagrammatic signs.