Uruguay has many similarities to Argentina. It generally look like a slightly poorer version of Argentina with roads that are a bit more deteriorated and signs slightly more run down. The Uruguayan landscape generally feature grasslands and a low to moderate covering of trees. Uruguay is extremely flat, especially when compared to most of the other South American countries. Many of the rural Uruguayan roads have two yellow lines in the centre enclosing a white dashed lines. There are white, wooden posts used to hold signs in Uruguay and this is another good hint you are indeed in the right country. Uruguayan bollards are wooden planks with white fronts and yellow rears. Traffic lights in Uruguay are mounted on black and white striped poles. Uruguayan roads often have white dashes inside two yellow lines. Uruguay often has a yellow, continuous centre line and white, dashed, centre line concurrently. This same road line combination can also be seen in Argentina. As a generalisation, Uruguayan roads and signs show a bit more wear than Argentine roads and signs. Posts in Uruguay are typically white and wooden. The Uruguayan landscape is visually similar to northern Argentina. It is also rather flat. Uruguay has a sprinkling of trees with the landscape mainly consisting of grass. The most common type of utility pole in Uruguay features three upward-facing bulbs that makes the pole resemble a trident. Uruguayan bollards are painted white on the front and have a rectangular reflector near the top. The rear of Uruguayan bollards are yellow. They feature a yellow coloured, rectangular reflector near the top. These short and white bollards appear near water sources in Uruguay. Uruguayan road signs are stuck to poles perpendicular to one another. These signs can come in a range of colours. Uruguayan cities often have these black and white arrows stuck on walls and on poles. Uruguayan traffic lights are mounted on black and white striped poles. Like Argentina, urban Uruguay often features trees between the footpath and road. Urban Uruguay tends to look slightly poorer than urban Argentina. There are a large number of cows visible in Uruguayan fields. 


Uruguayan licence plates are plain white with black characters.

Neighbouring Argentina also uses white licence plates, but they will have either a black dot in the middle or a blue bar at the top.

Uruguay uses thick wooden signposts, which are typically painted white. They often have up to four rectangular notches at the back of the post.

Thick wooden signposts can also be seen in Bolivia.

Uruguay often has these triple road lines, that consist of double yellow roadlines with white dashes in between. This is a design not seen anywhere else in the Americas.

You can also find two other, non-unique road line patterns:

Yellow-white lines (also found in Argentina)

Simple white lines (found in many other places).

These white bollards, with one side often painted yellow, and stone barriers, are specific to Uruguay.

Uruguay uses a handful of different utility poles. One very common and useful one are the so-called trident poles, which get their name from their distinctive pole tops with three insulators that point upwards.

These trident poles are not found in neighbouring Argentina and Brazil.

You can also see a variety of other pole designs, including:

Round poles with a pole top consisting of flat metal sheets 

Square concrete poles. 

Both of these pole designs are also good clues for Uruguay.

In addition, you might see simple wooden poles with one insulator, as well as very rarely some Argentina-style poles.

Uruguayan guardrails have a small, rectangular yellow or red reflector, which is the same as in Argentina. They can be differentiated by the shape of their support. 

In Argentina, the supports are made up of three sides of a rectangle. Uruguayan supports have the same three sides, and additionally parts of the fourth side at the corners.

This green-painted stone kilometre marker is unique to Uruguay.

Like most of Latin America, chevrons are yellow with black arrows.

This is mostly useful to distinguish between Argentina, which uniquely uses chevrons that are white with red arrows.

As mentioned before, most of Uruguay is slightly hilly, even though the overall elevation is fairly low. Although it is by no means a mountainous country, roads generally have at least a slight incline. 


In many parts of Uruguay, you can find reddish soil. The tint can range from light pink to deep red.

This type of reddish soil is less common in the similar-looking parts of Argentina. Hence, it can be a good clue for Uruguay when you are faced with a tough decision. 

However, be cautious with using this meta in the inverse way: the absence of this type of soil does not exclude Uruguay, as you can still find a lot of generic white and brown soil throughout the country.

Many Uruguayan houses are made out of concrete, and are somewhat cube-shaped. Walls often have drab colours and tend to look weathered. Flat roofs are relatively common.

Occasionally, you might see palm trees. These short and stocky species of palm tree are particularly common.

Cattle farming is an important part of Uruguay’s agriculture. Cattle outnumber people four by one, so you will see a lot of them around in rural rounds.

Bollard:

Uruguay has white/yellow bollards.

Road Lines:

Uruguay uses white road lines often with a white center line encased with yellow.

Road Signs:

Uruguay uses Green signs for locations and yellow for information.

Uruguay often uses white wooden sign posts.

Uruguay uses a street sign style similar to Argentina in a variety of colours.

Electricity poles:

Uruguay uses concrete poles in a variety of patterns.


Vegetation/Landscape:

Uruguay is rather flat containing a lot of open grassland, interspersed with trees, rocks, and streams.

