Road sign P-5: Movable bridge

What it means

«Peligro ante la proximidad de un puente que puede ser levantado o girado, interrumpiéndose así temporalmente la circulación.» RD 465/2025, Annex I of the RGC (BOE-A-2025-12199), Spanish original.

It warns of a bridge that can be raised or swung, so that traffic is temporarily interrupted. The danger is not that the bridge is narrow or high: it is that it can vanish in front of you.

Where you meet it

The sign comes before the movable bridge. For movable bridges, article 96 treats the barrier or half-barrier the same way as at a level crossing (RGC art. 96).

What you must do

Approach below the maximum permitted speed, whatever that maximum is (RGC art. 95.1). If the barrier or half-barrier is across or moving, you do not enter, even if it is not fully down: cutting it fine is exactly the conduct the rule wants to prevent (RGC art. 96.1).

Details that count

The barrier and the light are two independent prohibitions: a stop indication is enough on its own to block the way, with no physical obstacle on the road needed (RGC art. 96.1). And if there is a queue, you stop one behind another, in the lane for each direction, without entering the other one to overtake the queue (RGC art. 95.2).

What it is confused with

It is confused with P-6, «Tram crossing». Both signs announce a point where something takes precedence over you, but they are different things: P-5 is a stretch of road that is raised or swung and cuts the way; P-6 is a crossing with a tram line, which has priority of passage (RD 465/2025 catalogue).

Related signs

• P-6: Tram crossing
• P-7: Level crossing with barriers
• P-9a: Approach marker for a level crossing, movable bridge or quay (200 m, right side)
• P-11: Location of a level crossing without barriers

Studied in topic 28: Level crossings.

Source: RGC arts. 95.1, 95.2, 96.1; RGC Annex I, sign P-5 (RD 465/2025).