Divided highway ends sign: meaning and rules

What does the divided highway ends sign mean?

MUTCD Section 2C.21 says the sign should be used before the end of a physically divided highway as a warning of two-way traffic ahead. A Two-Way Traffic sign should give notice of the change to a two-lane, two-way road.

Quick quiz

What does the sign at the top of this page mean?

The divided highway ends; two-way traffic ahead.
A median will split the two directions.
Yellow lines separate opposite directions.

Show answer

A. The divided highway ends; two-way traffic ahead. The divided highway ends: two-way traffic ahead (MUTCD Section 2C.21). Source: MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2C, Warning Signs and Object Markers: Sections 2C.20, 2C.21, FHWA; MUTCD 11th Edition, FHWA

Where will you see it?

At the end of divided highways, where the road becomes an ordinary two-way road.

What should you do?

Move into the right lane in good time, stop passing and keep right of the center line. Expect oncoming traffic close to you.

What do people get wrong?

Staying in the left lane as the median ends. That lane may become the lane for oncoming traffic.

Common questions

What is the opposite of this sign?

The Divided Highway sign, which warns that a median is starting ahead.

What sign often follows?

A Two-Way Traffic sign (MUTCD Section 2C.21).

Compare with

Want to test someone else? Play a road-sign quiz with friends and family.

Sources

Checked on 3 November 2026 against the MUTCD 11th Edition (FHWA), Sections 2C.20 and 2C.21.

MUTCD 11th Edition, Chapter 2C, Warning Signs and Object Markers: Sections 2C.20, 2C.21, FHWA
MUTCD 11th Edition, FHWA. FHWA lists the current version as the 11th Edition with Revision 1, dated December 2025

Sign pictures are our own simplified drawings of the MUTCD designs, which are in the public domain (MUTCD Section 1D.06). Sources and image credits.