49 CFR 38.39
§ 38.39 Destination and route signs.
United States · 49 CFR — Transportation · Status: effective
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- Citation
- 49 CFR 38.39, § 38.39 Destination and route signs, United States, version 1 as recorded 2026-07-09, yourstate.us, https://yourstate.us/provision/255076
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Full text
(a) Where destination or route information is displayed on the exterior of a vehicle, each vehicle shall have illuminated signs on the front and boarding side of the vehicle.
(b) Characters on signs required by paragraph (a) of this section shall have a width-to-height ratio between 3:5 and 1:1 and a stroke width-to-height ratio between 1:5 and 1:10, with a minimum character height (using an upper case “X”) of 1 inch for signs on the boarding side and a minimum character height of 2 inches for front “headsigns”, with “wide” spacing (generally, the space between letters shall be 1/16 the height of upper case letters), and shall contrast with the background, either dark-on-light or light-on-dark.
Legislative history
This is a federal regulation, adopted through agency rulemaking under the Administrative Procedure Act — not enacted by a recorded vote of Congress.