What do those spray paint markings on pavements mean?
You could call it pavement graffiti and most times it will simply be what reads as secret coding including letters, numbers and varied special characters coming in different coloured paints too. Most times it means absolutely nothing to us being unreadable, but for sure someone will have written it for someone else to understand right? Well yes in fact that is completely correct in that codes and colours are left for others to take action – These graffiti style markings are also known as utility graffiti.
Both on the pavements and below ground we have much to be maintained such as slabs, curbs, man hole covers and going deeper we get pipes and cables. The codes we see are simply telling service workers the locations of where works are to be carried out and positioning of out of view services beneath. Numbers, words, arrows, bright colours and more will attract our attention as we walk along the pavement.
White and Blue Colour Codes
What do the colours relate to? Most times there is a code with regards to colour of the markings such as:
White: Can be classed as the general communication colour code between highway maintenance teams.
Red: Usually means ‘attention’ or ‘warning’ and will be relevant to electric works and to signify the location of electricity cables.
Blue: Water of course! Yes, pipes containing water below the pavement / road surface will be communicated with blue font colour.
Yellow: Appears to be the colour code for gas thus indicating gas pipes.
Green: This colour will relate to communications thus telephone, cable TV and more.
It is important to note that there is no official colour code, though reading up on the subject it is more the case that there is no collective agreement yet to clarify colours for individual services. You can also see colours outside of the above examples to include purple / black / orange. No road markings should be interpreted for any maintenance reason by unofficial people and certainly not by members of the public.
You May Also Enjoy
Mould and damp – what you need to know ahead of winter
Rental price and average salary tracker – September 2025
The cities where buying beats renting – with just a 5% deposit
Rightmove’s Weekly Mortgage Rates Tracker
Data and commentary from Rightmove on stamp duty reforms
