Route number

A road number is often assigned to a stretch of public roadway. The number chosen is often dependent on the type of road, with numbers differentiating between interstates, motorways, arterial thoroughfares, two-lane roads, and so forth.

United Kingdom

Further information: Great Britain road numbering scheme

In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, the road number has a letter followed by a number of up to 4 digits. For example, the main road from London to Edinburgh is called the A1, the "A" in Britain indicating a first class route; this is classified as being more important than "B" roads. The A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 also radiate out from London (in clockwise order) to points around the coast. All classified roads starting in the zone between the A1 and the A2 must begin with the figure 1 (A137, B1412), etc, etc. Scotland is similarly divided into zones by the A7, A8 and A9 which radiate out from Edinburgh. Motorways are marked by an M, for example the M25 (which forms a beltway around London). Motorways are fast freeways and are larger than "A" roads. Motorways follow different zoning and numbering systems than "A" and "B" roads.

This clock-face zonal system is used in many other European countries (for example, Spain).

United States

Further information: Numbered highways in the United States

In other countries, such as the United States, the situation is a bit more complicated. The numbers can be broken up into several major classifications, such as Interstate highways, or high-speed limited-access highways. For instance, the interstate between Boston and Seattle is called Interstate 90. The United States highways are often more local routes that can span multiple states and can include multiple roadway classifications. An example of this is the U.S. highway linking Maine to Florida called U.S. Route 1. There are also state highways, or roadways under the control of the state government and are usually more minor than those of U.S. highways. These are often titled with the state name followed by the route number; Kentucky Route 67 indicates a Kentucky state road numbered 67.

Under the current numbering system for Interstate highways, odd numbers generally indicate a north-south route, and even numbers mean an east-west route. The numbering system creates a sort of grid; east-west Interstates increase in number as one goes north, and north-south Interstates increase in number as one goes east. For example, Interstate 4 is in central Florida, while Interstate 94 runs in the northern part of the country. Also, Interstate 5 travels along the Pacific Ocean while Interstate 95 runs up the East Coast. Conversely, north-south U.S. routes increase in number as one goes west (U.S. Route 1 parallels Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 97 runs in the Pacific Northwest) and the number of east-west U.S. routes increase as one goes south (U.S. Route 2 travels along the Canadian border and U.S. Route 98 runs along the Gulf of Mexico). States may or may not follow the odd and even rules and usually do not number their routes according to a grid. Some exceptions are Iowa, which uses a grid to number its county routes, and Ohio, which has "clusters" of similarly numbered routes.

The numbering system for state highways varies widely from state to state. A state may choose to use letter prefixes for all, some, or none of its state roads. For example, the Virginia Department of Transportation does not use letter prefixes for state primary or secondary routes, but does use an "F" prefix for frontage roads. Although the state's two-letter designation usually becomes a prefix for the route, some states, like Michigan, prefer to use a single-letter prefix (such as "M-28"). Indeed, a state may choose to give a route an entirely alphabetic designation, such as the lettered county routes in Wisconsin and the Missouri Supplemental Routes.

Some states (Southern and Midwestern states in particular) tend to use the term "Highway" for state routes and their sections of U.S. highways, while others prefer the term "Route."

Some routes may carry a letter suffix, such as E/W (for East/West) or N/S (for North/South). Other lesser-known suffixes include A (for Alternate), B (for Business) and C (for City), but not all states practice this convention. For example, in New York State, there has been or currently are routes 17, 17A, 17B, 17C, 17D, 17E, 17F, 17G, 17H, 17J, 17K, and 17M.

Complicating the issue further is the fact that some states have distinct numbering systems for primary and secondary routes or for state routes and county roads. For example, in Virginia, the primary and secondary road systems have numbering ranges that are, with rare exceptions, mutually exclusive.

Canada

Main article: Numbered highways in Canada

The Trans-Canada Highway system is made up of federally maintain highways, and is the only system that uses route numbering that span multiple provinces. The provincial highways are assigned numbers by their respective provinces.

Alberta

Main article: List of Alberta provincial highways

All provincial highways are 'Primary Highways'. They are divided into two series', and sub-series'.

• 1-216 Series — core highway network
  • Hwy 1-100 — intercity
  • Hwy 201, 216 — orbital routes
• 500-986 Series — local highways
  • Hwy 500-699 — west-east routes
  • Hwy 700-899 — south-north routes
  • 900 and X series — potential realignments and extensions

British Columbia

Main article: List of British Columbia provincial highways

Owing to the mountainous terrain in the province, route numbers are assigned on an ad hoc basis, and vary between west-east and south-north routes. They currently span from 1-118, except for Hwy 395 which is a counterpart of US 395. British Columbia used to have a "400 series" of highways, but that scheme was dropped in 1973.

Manitoba

Main article: List of Manitoba provincial highways

Provincial Trunk Highways (PTH) are divided into two series'.

• PTH 1-199 — primary highways
  • PTH 1-89 — intercity
  • PTH 100, 101, 110 — loop routes
• PR 200-699 — secondary highways

New Brunswick

Main article: List of New Brunswick provincial highways

Provincial highways are divided into three series'.

• Route 1-99 — arterial highways
• Route 100-199 — collector highways
• Route 200-999 — local highways

Newfoundland and Labrador

Main article: List of Newfoundland and Labrador highways

Provincial highways are divided into three seres'.

• Main highways have varying numbers
• Regional roads are numbered by region
  • Route 2-203 — Avalon Peninsula
  • Route 204-205, 230-239 — Bonavista Peninsula
  • Route 210-222 — Burin Peninsula
  • Route 301-346 — Kittiwake Coast, Fogo Island, & Twillingate
  • Route 350-371 — Exploits River Valley & Bay d'Espoir
  • Route 380-392, 410-419 — Baie Verte
  • Route 401, 420-438 — Great Northern Peninsula
  • Route 402-407, 440-490 — Western Newfoundland
  • Route 500-520 — Labrador
• Local highways are based on intersecting primary routes and numbered with extension (i.e. 210-1)

Nova Scotia

Main article: List of Nova Scotia provincial highways

Provincial highways are divided into five series'.

• 100 Series — arterial highways
• Trunk Highways
• Route 200-399 — collector highways
• Scenic Routes are unnumbered
• Local roads are unnumbered

Ontario

Main article: Provincial highways in Ontario

Provincial highways are divided into four classes.

• Hwy 2-148, 400-427 — King's (primary) highways
  • Hwy 2-148 — intercity
  • 400-series highways
• Hwy 500-699 — secondary highways
• Hwy 800-813 — tertiary highways
• 7000-series — resource & industrial roads

Prince Edward Island

Main article: List of Prince Edward Island provincial highways

Provincial highways are divided into three series'.

• Route 1-4 — primary highways
• Route 4-25 — secondary highways
• Local highways are numbered by county
  • Route 101-199 — Prince County
  • Route 201-299 — Queens County
  • Route 301-399 — Kings County

Quebec

Main article: List of Quebec provincial highways

Provincial highways are divided into three classes. Odd numbers refer to routes that are generally perpendicular to the Saint Lawrence River. Even numbers refer to routes that are generally parallel to the Saint Lawrence River.

• Autoroutes - expressways
  • Route numbers for bypasses and spurs take on a prefix (4nn-9nn)
• 100-series — primary highways
• Secondary routes
  • 200-series — south of the Saint Lawrence River
  • 300-series — north of the Saint Lawrence River

Saskatchewan

Main article: List of Saskatchewan provincial highways

Provincial highways are divided into three seres', and sub-series'.

• Hwy 1-99 — primary highways
• Hwy 100-399 — secondary highways which are spurs of primary highways
  • Hwy 102-167 — northern routes
  • Hwy 201-271 — routes to recreational areas
  • Hwy 301-397 — routes to minor communities
• Hwy 600-799, 900-999 — minor highways
  • Hwy 600-699 — south-north highways
  • Hwy 700-799 — west-east highways
  • Hwy 900-999 — northern or isolated roads

Northwest Territories

Main article: List of Northwest Territories highways

There are currently eleven territorial highways in the Northwest Territories. All eleven are named, eight are numbered 1-8, and two are winter roads.

Nunavut

Main article: Highways in Nunavut

There are a number of roads and highways in Nunavut, none are yet numbered.

Yukon

Main article: List of Yukon territorial highways

There are currently fourteen territorial highways in Yukon. All fourteen are named and numbered 1-11, 14-15, & 37.

Hong Kong

Further information: Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System

• Highways or Routes are numbered 1-10; there is no Route 6 (it is a proposed route)
• Routes are also given names (e.g. Tolo Highway)

Malaysia

Main articles: List of Expressways and Highways in Malaysia and List of Federal Roads in Malaysia

Further information: Malaysian Expressway System, Malaysian Federal Roads System, and Malaysian State Roads system

Route numbering in Malaysia is fairly simple.

West

• All expressways (classified as an expressway by the Malaysian government) has a route number beginning with 'E', followed by a number. (e.g. North–South Expressway Northern Route and New Klang Valley Expressway)
• All federal roads can have any route number except those stated below. (e.g. Malaysia Federal Route 1)
• Industrial roads has a four-digit route number beginning with '3'.
• Roads build by the Federal Land Development Authority has a four-digit route number starting with '1' or '2'.
• Institutional facilities roads follow the normal numbering of federal roads.
• All state roads begins with a letter other than 'E', followed by a number.

Starting Letter	State
A	Perak
B	Selangor
C	Pahang
D	Kelantan
J	Johor
K	Kedah
M	Melaka
N	Negeri Sembilan
P	Penang
R	Perlis
T	Terengganu

East

Sabah

• All major roads in Sabah are federal roads. The route numbers are usually three-digits beginning with '5'.
• Route 1, 13 and 22 belong to the Pan Borneo Highway.
• Institutional roads route numbers have three-digits beginning with '6'.

Sarawak

Main article: List of Federal Roads in Sarawak

• Federal roads in Sarawak are divided into sections. They have a main route number of '1', referring to the whole stretch of the route (i.e. Pan Borneo Highway), followed by a dash (-) and the section number. (e.g. Jalan Kuching-Serian)
• Other roads can have any route number and are also divided into sections.

Labuan

• All federal roads in Labuan have a three-digit number beginning with '7'.

Elsewhere

France still uses Route Nationale numbers from an 1824 revision of 1811 numbers made under Napoleon.

Some countries, such as Brazil, number their national highways by direction. (BR1xx = North/South highways, BR2xx = East/West, BR3xx = 'Diagonal' (ie NW/SE or NE/SW)).

See also

• Road designation or abbreviation
• Highway shield
• Highway route markers
• Driver location signs
• Asian Highway Network
• Auxiliary route (United States)
• China road numbering
• International E-road network (Europe)
• State-numbered route (countries that are divided into states)
• Numbered street

Further reading

• Road numbering systems, covering most nations
• Explanation of British road numbers
• Explanation of highway numbers in the United States Numbered Highways system