How are other roads depicted?

• A. Parallel black lines
• B. A solid red line
• C. A dotted blue line
• D. A brown cross

Answer: (A)

On road diagrams, lines are the language that tells you what you’re looking at. Other roads are shown as parallel black lines because that simple, neutral symbol clearly represents a street without implying any special status or type. The two lines evoke the edges of a roadway, making it easy to recognize as a drivable route at a glance and to distinguish it from other features that might be shown with color, dashes, or different symbols.

A solid red line, for example, is more often used to indicate a major or restricted route in many legends, a dotted blue line can denote a non-vehicular path or border, and a brown cross is not typically a road symbol. So the parallel black lines provide the most general, universally understood depiction for standard roads.