Lane Closed Ahead sign
One travel lane is blocked ahead for work. Merge into an open lane well before the taper of cones or barrels.
Posted ahead of any taper where cones or barrels squeeze two or more lanes down to fewer, on both interstates and city streets.
How to recognise it
This sign is a diamond stood on its point in orange, used only for temporary work zones. Orange means people are working on or near the road. Fines are typically doubled in an active work zone, which is exactly the kind of detail permit tests like to ask about.
What the test wants you to know
Examiners are less interested in the sign itself than in what you do after seeing it: check your mirror, signal, and merge at a speed close to traffic rather than braking hard in your own lane. Waiting until the taper to merge is the habit this sign is meant to prevent.
Practise it
Reading about a sign is not the same as recognising it in half a second with an examiner watching. Every state road signs test on this site shows the sign and asks you to name it, then shows four faces and asks you to pick the right one.
Road Work Ahead
Workers Ahead