Colorado County Road Signage
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Standard Blue pentagon county road marker widely used across Colorado.
Example of the Green version of the MUTCD blue pentagon used in Douglas County, Colorado.
Example of the green square with white text shield used mostly in Fremont, Ouray, and Routt Counties.
Colorado County Road Signage
County road signage in Colorado refers to the systems used by individual counties to number and mark rural and local roads that are not part of the state highway system. Unlike State Highways and U.S. highways, Colorado does not have a uniform county road system;[1] each of the 64 counties develops its own numbering, lettering, and signing practices.
Overview
Colorado has no statewide standard for county road signage. Because the state does not use townships as in much of the Midwest, nearly all rural roads outside of municipalities are designated as county roads. Many counties use a geographical grid-based numbering or lettering system, some use common names, or a mixture of both. However, the specifics, including sign design and placement, differ from county to county.
As an example of a statewide county road system, States such as Florida have a statewide county road system where the county roads often follow the same numbering as the state roads.
The most common marker type used in Colorado where county route signs are posted is the standard MUTCD blue pentagon (MUTCD M1-6)[2], but some counties rely primarily on street name blade signs with embedded county numbers at intersections, a shield that's a green square with white lettering, a custom shield, or no distinct route markers at all.
County-by-county signage chart
| County | Shield style | Notes | Shield Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adams County | N/A | No County Road numbers, uses only street names based on the Denver Metro grid on sign blades either containing the county logo or an United States Flag. | |
| Alamosa County | Road numbers on blue street sign blades, occasional MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Road numbers are mostly only present at intersections on street signs. Alamosa County uses the same coloring scheme on its sign blades, a blue background with yellow text. When Pentagons are used, they redundantly include "RD" rather than just the number, reading for example as: "Alamosa County Road Road 100 South." | |
| Arapahoe County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon (rare), Road numbers mostly on street sign blades in rural areas | Arapahoe County has converted to mostly using only street sign blades that contain the county logo. In rural areas (generally) east of CR 73 (Gun Club Road), the signs also contain the road number next to the common name. Common names are based on the Denver Metro grid. | |
| Archuleta County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often as a reassurance marker. | |
| Baca County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Boulder County | Road numbers on green street sign blades, green square with white text shield rare | The only way to know about a road's number is usually by Web mapping services. Generally, only the road's common name is posted on sign blades. There are scattered instances of the green square shield as a reassurance marker. A white square shield was previously used to mark roads. | |
| Broomfield (City and County) | N/A | No County Road numbers, uses only street names on sign blades with the county logo. | |
| Chaffee County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Cheyenne County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Clear Creek County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used mostly printed on the same sign blade as the road's common name. | |
| Conejos County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used as a reassurance marker. | |
| Costilla County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Crowley County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Custer County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Delta County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Denver (City and County) | N/A | No County Road numbers, uses only street names on sign blades based on the Denver Metro grid. Signs at signaled intersections contain the county logo. | |
| Dolores County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Douglas County | MUTCD Pentagon, However it is green rather than blue with white borders and text. | Used only as reassurance markers, only common names are posted at intersections on sign blades with the county logo. The only way to know about a county road's number is from the pentagon. Notable design with the green pentagon. | |
| Eagle County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon, Road names on green street sign blade | Used only as reassurance markers, but instances of it are scattered or rare. Street sign blades at intersections are also somewhat rare, they often only show the common name. The only way to know about a county road's number is from the Blue Pentagon. | |
| El Paso County | Road names on green street sign blades, One road with the MUTCD Blue Pentagon | No County Road numbers, uses only street names. However, in the case of SH 105 being returned to the county,[3] the MUTCD Blue pentagon was used to mark it as CR 105. | |
| Elbert County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | Only posts numbers on street sign blades. | |
| Fremont County | Green Square with white text | Used often as a reassurance marker. | |
| Garfield County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used only occasionally as reassurance markers. The road common name and number are most often shown on the same sign blade. | |
| Gilpin County | Road numbers/names only on brown street sign blades | Road common name is only posted on the brown sign blades, instance of the road's number on the sign blades are rare. | |
| Grand County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. At intersections, only the number is posted on a sign blade with the county logo; since the early 2000's, the common name sign blades have been removed across the county in favor of all numbered roads.[4] | |
| Gunnison County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Hinsdale County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Recently switched to the blue pentagon from a previously used brown square shield with white text. Used as a reassurance marker and occasionally in turn assemblies. | |
| Huerfano County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Pentagon is used rarely when printed on the same sign blade as the common name. Otherwise, standard sign blades are widely used to show only the road number. | |
| Jackson County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Jefferson County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. However, it is only used for a select few numbered county roads; the rest are unsigned, only being signed with the road's common name. Before the early 2000's, the shield used to be custom. The old style was the shape of the county in green with the number inside the outline.[5] | Old Jefferson County Shield |
| Kiowa County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Kit Carson County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| La Plata County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Lake County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Larimer County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often as a reassurance marker, Road numbers are also posted on sign blades at intersections. | |
| Las Animas County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used only occasionally at Interstate interchanges, and when printed on the same sign blade as the common name. Otherwise, a green sign blade is used to show the number at intersections. | |
| Lincoln County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | Lincoln County in the case of County Road 2W uses a green shield with white text, and for County Highway 109 uses a white square with black text. Shields are very rare and not standardized here; the majority of numbers/names are posted on sign blades at intersections. | |
| Logan County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Mesa County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Mineral County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | Street signage is rare in general in this county, with occasional intersections unsigned. County road numbers are rarely posted on the same sign as the common name, but signage styles differ greatly from intersection to intersection. The county road numbers often came from old USFS-designated forest road numbers. | |
| Moffat County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Montezuma County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Montrose County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | Montrose County only uses street sign blades to mark road numbers; newer sign blades contain the county logo. The county uniquely uses the MUTCD blue pentagon that contains the county's logo as a marker for its county border. Road common names are sporadically posted at intersections in conjunction with the number sign. | |
| Morgan County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Otero County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Ouray County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon, Green Square with White text. | Used only as reassurance markers. Ouray County, as of 2025-2026, is transitioning from the green square shield to the standard MUTCD blue pentagon. Used only as a reassurance marker. | |
| Park County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. Numbers are also posted on green sign blades at intersections. A white square shield was previously used to mark roads. | |
| Phillips County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Pitkin County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | The road common name and number are shown on the same sign blade. | |
| Prowers County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Pueblo County | Road numbers only on green street sign blades | ||
| Rio Blanco County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. | |
| Rio Grande County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways, often in conjunction with the common road name. Also used as reassurance markers. | |
| Routt County | Green Square with white text | Used often as a reassurance marker, a road's common name is occasionally posted under the reassurance marker. | |
| Saguache County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used in turn assemblies on highways and as reassurance markers. The blue pentagon shield is used very often in turn assemblies on county road to county road intersections rather than typical sign blades. | |
| San Juan County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often as reassurance markers. | |
| San Miguel County | Road numbers on green street sign blades, green square with white text shield rare | The green square shield is occasionally seen at the county borders. Otherwise, the number is only at intersections on a green sign blade. | |
| Sedgwick County | Road numbers on street sign blades | ||
| Summit County | Road numbers on green street sign blades | Usually numbers are posted in conjuction with the common name on the same street sign. | |
| Teller County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often as reassurance markers, pentagon is also used occasionally when printed on the same sign blade as the common name. Road numbers are also posted on green street sign blades at intersections. | |
| Washington County | Road numbers on green street sign blades | ||
| Weld County | MUTCD Blue Pentagon | Used often at county borders and at interchanges with Interstate and U.S. Highways. Used only occasionally as reassurance markers. Weld County Road 47 & 49 (Weld County Parkway)[6] uses a Blue pentagon variant that is purple with green text. A white square shield was previously used to mark roads. | |
| Yuma County | Road numbers on green street sign blades |
Other information
Notably, a lot of the easternmost counties in the plains often don't use shields at all, plus only occasional signs at intersections. Often this may be due to money constraints, staffing in public works, or other factors.
Lincoln County, Colorado Retained the number for County Highway 109 that runs along the typical county road numbering grid via County roads 31 & 32 from when SH 109 was returned to the county in the 20th century.[5] [3]This number is often co signed at intersections with the typical county road grid number.
See Colorado County Highway Numbering Systems by Matthew Salek to learn more about the numbering systems of individual counties.
See also
References
- ↑ "Wayback Machine" (PDF). mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 11, 2026. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ↑ "New Standard Signs included in the 11th Edition of the MUTCD—Phased Releases of PDF, EPS, and SVG files - FHWA MUTCD". mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov. Archived from the original on February 9, 2026. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Colorado Routes 100-119". www.mesalek.com. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ↑ Valley, Janet Day / Talk of the (2010-02-15). "Janet Day – At least the street sign will be spelled right". Retrieved 2026-02-11.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "CO Hwys: County Numbering". www.mesalek.com. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
- ↑ "Weld County Parkway ACP". www.weld.gov. Retrieved 2026-02-12.
External links
- Colorado Highways: County Road Numbering Systems — detailed info on Colorado county road numbering.
- https://www.mesalek.com/— detailed info on Colorado Highways.
This article "Colorado County Road Signage" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Colorado County Road Signage. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
