International Roads

[jwolfer]

What country has the best road system?   Germany has the Autobahn, we have the Interstates.  But overall where is the best system, not necceily the longest or most freeways.  But rather the best system for their population and geography.  I have never been outside the USA so those of you who have traveled I would like some input

[NE2]

Antarctica

More serious answer: The Vatican.

[Alps]

I'd say something like Singapore where there are a ridiculous number of freeways set up.  Some of the Arab nations like UAE are developing far beyond their people's means, same deal.

[english si]

Spain - 3rd largest freeway network (after the USA and China) - bigger than Germany's now and local roads are also well upgraded. Plus rather decent rail (with a fully formed decent intercity high-speed network starting to bud into life). They have gone so overboard building themselves out of congestion that they have pretty much bankrupted the country - which is a shame, as they haven't quite finished yet.

Scotland should have a fairly decent road network in 10 years (once they've replaced the Forth Road Bridge, finished the motorway completion plans, widened the M8 between Edinburgh and Glasgow to 6 lanes and upgraded other major routes in the Highlands like the A9 and A82).

Ireland's motorway network in a few years time will be amazing, and they might start upgrading some of the more minor roads. For a country to have all but about 5 of the settlements above 15k pop within 15 minutes of it's motorway network is crazy given how poor the motorway network was even just a couple of years ago. Of course, the next phase is linking the larger places on the West Coast together, upgrading the other major roads to a high standard, and finally getting round to doing something to the minor roads.

[aswnl]

I still like most the German Autobahnnetwork. It's far better than any other European system.
The freeways in my own country (Netherlands) are nicely maintained, but still way too much congested.
Because I've never been outside Europe, I can't judge on the vast American and Chinese systems.

[Chris]

Spain, no doubt about it.

The Dutch network is very well-maintained but as aswnl stated, too congested, though significant progress has been made since 2006 by adding 800 kilometers of new freeway lanes in the next 5 years.

The German system is overrated in my opinion. Pavement is often mediocre and interchanges and junctions have an outdated design. The signage though, is definitely the best.

I also think the Danish system is pretty good. Not a lot of congestion and a pretty good network. Sweden has also an adequate system. Luxembourg would be pretty high too, as well as France, but the downside of them is that you have to pay very high tolls (I don't want to pay 70 dollars for a 5 hour drive).

Out of the Alpine countries, I think Austria has the best network. At least they are willing to twin congested tunnels, unlike the Swiss who have weird laws that forbid the improvement of trans-Alpine corridors.

Out of the newer EU countries, I think Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic stand out. Poland is catching up pretty quick but there is still a lot of work to do. Relative to population, the road network of Lithuania is also well-designed.

The worst in Europe are Romania and Bulgaria, but Belgium also has a dense, but inadequate road network. For a wealthy country like Norway, their road network is also woefully substandard (their main route E6 looks like a back road sometimes), though improvements are made by replacing ferries by toll tunnels and bridges. I rather pay toll than being dependent on ferry service.

[Truvelo]

The German system is overrated in my opinion. Pavement is often mediocre and interchanges and junctions have an outdated design. The signage though, is definitely the best.

The one thing I like about the Autobahn is the striping which gives a real sense of speed when traveling fast. The lines are ridiculously long, something like 20 feet with 40 feet spacing, somebody might know the exact sizes. When crossing the border into somewhere like Belgium or Holland the difference in the striping is noticeable. The UK's is shorter still - 2 meter with 7 meter spacing.

[Chris]

The German A7 north of Hamburg has a road marking that makes you feel you're driving on an airfield runway:


foto 261 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr


foto 263 by Chriszwolle, on Flickr

[english si]

For a wealthy country like Norway, their road network is also woefully substandard (their main route E6 looks like a back road sometimes)

While it is poor in many places, where's it poor quality it's not heavily trafficked.

That said, Norway ought to have better roads in the sparse areas. Given the per-capita wealth, I think widening E6 to 2-lanes all the way is far from beneath them.

Luxembourg, again, given it's per-capita wealth (though from what I can make out, most of that is due to having a lot of the EU's civil service there) ought to do better in getting it's vision done - how long has the A7 been under-construction? And surely they can pay to have Belgium's A28 finished (and the existing road improved) and thus bypass the country, as well as finishing the A13 (including the bit where all it needs is 1km of motorway where it currently uses temporary stuff) and such like.

[agentsteel53]

That said, Norway ought to have better roads in the sparse areas. Given the per-capita wealth, I think widening E6 to 2-lanes all the way is far from beneath them.

I disagree.  I thought rural Norway's roads were spectacular, given the traffic levels, and the conditions they have to work with.  There are freeze-melt cycles there that necessitate annual resurfacing, and the frequent snow implies that plows are needed round-the-clock to keep the road open. 

E6 past Tromso or thereabouts does not need to be four-laned.  (Two in each direction.)  The traffic levels I saw were perfectly handled by one lane each way.

[Chris]

In Northern Norway just about anything is adequate as roads there rarely exceed 500 vehicles per day outside the towns.

However, in southern Norway, the road network leaves much to be desired, especially the E-routes south of Trondheim.

[agentsteel53]

gotcha.  the furthest south I've been in Norway via car is Narvik.

[english si]

E6 past Tromso or thereabouts does not need to be four-laned.  (Two in each direction.)  The traffic levels I saw were perfectly handled by one lane each way.

Which is what I said - upgrade the road to 2 lanes (ie 1 in each direction). There are some (eg 1 2, 3) bits that are 1 or 1.5 lanes wide (and number 3 is south of Trondheim which just adds to it's awfulness).

Just seen Trondheim and Bergen to Oslo links - how awful are they!

[agentsteel53]

I had no idea that there were one-lane segments of E-6.  I had figured the northernmost parts would be the least wide, and past Tromso it is all two-lane or more to Kirkenes.