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A road designation and a road name abbreviation are easy ways to refer to a road.
Contents
- Use of letters
- Single letter abbreviations
- Multiple letter abbreviations
- Road systems
- International systems
- Australian M A B C D system
- British M A B C D U system
- Chinese G S X Y system
- Cyprus A B E F system
- Estonian T system
- French A N D system
- German A B system
- Irish M N R L system
- Netherlands A N system
- Senegal N R system
- Slovak D R system
- South African N R M system
- Vietnamese QL TL HL system
- References
The road designation can be created from the original road name or constructed from the road type and number. Road designations are used especially to have a non-ambiguous system of labeling roads on maps and road signs.
Use of letters
Letters are often used in road designations to indicate a class of roadways. Within such a class, roads are distinguished from each other by a road number. The way such letters are used depends on the country or other political jurisdiction which contains and controls the road. For instance, among A1 motorways, the one in Spain has a hyphen between the A and the 1 (Autovia A-1) while in Germany the Autobahn 1 is written A 1, with a space between the A and the 1. In Argentina there are zeros between the A and the 1 (Autopista A001).
Single-letter abbreviations
Multiple-letter abbreviations
Road systems
Depending on the country, the letter attributed to a road may be part of a road grading system, be a shortening for a type of road especially in a foreign language or refer to a geographical zoning system, such as the Appalachian Development Highway System or the county highway systems of California, Iowa, and Michigan in the United States.
International systems
Australian M, A, B, C, D system
M is for primary roads, A for single carriageway interstates, B for secondary highways, C for roads linking small settlements and D for unsealed roads linking very small remote towns.
British M, A, B, C, D, U system
M stands for "motorway" while A, B, C, D are grades of roads (most important first) and U means "unclassified". However C, D and U are not used in road signs.
Chinese G, S, X, Y system
G stands for national highway and S is for provincial roads. X and Y are for local roads between counties and villages.
Cyprus A, B, E, F system
A stands for motorway and B is for main roads. E and F are for smaller local roads.
Estonian T system
T is the prefix for all roads, however not represented on route shields. The prefix is mostly only used by the Estonian Road Administration and is not in common usage when referring to roads.
French A, N, D system
A stands for "autoroute" (motorway), N for "national road", D for "départementale" road and C for "communale".
German A, B system
A stands for Autobahn (motorway), B for Bundesstraße (literally "federal road"). There are also L roads (Landesstraße for Bundesland; in Saxony and Bavaria St for Staatsstraße), K roads (Kreisstraße for districts, in some states of Germany K roads are classified as Landesstraßen 2. Ordnung and also carry an L number).
Formerly, B roads were also designated as F (for Fernstraße, literally "long-distance road") in East Germany until 1990 and as R (for Reichsstraße, literally "Empire's road") in the Weimar republic and Nazi-Germany until the Second World War.
A roads use white numbers on blue shields, B and R roads black numbers on yellow shields and L, K and St roads – if designated – black numbers on white shields. The respective letters are normally not included in the shield.
Irish M, N, R, L system
M stands for Motorway, N for National primary road or National secondary road, R for Regional road and L for Local road.
Netherlands' A, N system
A stands for "Autosnelweg" (motorway), N for Non motorways. The A-codes use white letters on a red shield, the N-codes black letters on a yellow shield. Where a highway changes into a motorway or vice versa, it may continue to use the same number, but the letter and the color are switched.
When the letter is followed by three digits, the road is typically a provincial road. When there are only one or two digits, it is typically a national road.
Senegal N, R system
N stands for "national" roads while R is for "regional" roads.
Slovak D, R system
D stands for "diaľnica" (motorways) while R is for "rýchlostná cesta" (expressways).
South African N, R, M system
N stands for national road, R stands for regional road and M stands for metropolitan road.
Vietnamese QL, TL, HL system
QL stands for quốc lộ (national road); TL and ĐT stand for tỉnh lộ and đường tỉnh (provincial road); HL stands for hương lộ or huyện lộ (rural district road); and ĐCK stands for đường cặp kênh (canal towpath).