Road Numbering Changes

[Jhoan Seb]

I decided to create this thread to record recent changes. I think the most notable change so far is the sudden change made by the Kazakh Ministry of Transport, which has now officially adopted the abbreviations "KAZ" and "KZ" in Latin instead of Cyrillic for the classification of certain roads.

Kazakhstan has been changing its internal organization so much that they decided to change the telephone code and unify the entire territory into a single time zone.

The list of new designations can be found here:
https://adilet.zan.kz/rus/docs/V1500011402 (Most of the A and M routes that connect Kazakhstan's major cities have been transformed into KAZ routes. The document contains several abbreviations for countries, such as КНР for China, КР for Kyrgyzstan, РУ for Uzbekistan, and РФ for Russia for people that don't know much of Cyrillic.)

KZ routes have four digits, the first two indicating the Kazakh region and the last two indicating the number that identifies those roads within the regional road system.

The change took effect in 2024, and it was not until this month that Kazakh contributors to OSM took on the task of modifying these routes to implement the new system: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/466872745/history/7

There's some news article that's explain more about this change: https://www.zakon.kz/pravo/6454951-v-kazakhstane-obnovili-pravila-klassifikatsii-avtodorog.html / https://qazjolgzi.kz/en/novost/new-indexes-have-been-set-international-and-republican-highways

[Chris]

Thanks for reporting this change.

This means that the earlier route numbering scheme with A1 to A36 and R1 to R62 has been scrapped. The earlier system eliminated the Soviet system but kept the former Soviet M-numbers (there were only 5 of them).

[Jhoan Seb]

In addition, the Guyana Ministry of Transportation has been implementing road numbering, using US Route Shields to represent its national routes.

[Molandfreak]

Does Kazakhstan (or any other Central Asian former Soviet republic) still sign the European E-routes through the country?

[Chris]

I was wondering if there are any photos of the new KAZ and KZ signs in Kazakhstan, I'm curious as to what these shields would look like.

So I looked up a recently completed road project, Kalbatau - Maykapchigay / Chinese border. But it has the older M- and A-numbering. According to satellite imagery this interchange was completed before the new numbering took effect.



It took a while before the A-numbers were posted in the field. I don't know exactly when they introduced the A-numbering (2011 is mentioned, but it has been said that it is older).

The first photo with an A-number on Skyscrapercity was posted in 2011:

[CNGL-Leudimin]

A few months ago the province of Zaragoza, Spain renumbered all their provincial roads. They previously used a mess of CP-xxx, CV-xxx (which I referred to as ZV-xxx in order to avoid duplications with the Valencian Community) and VP-xxx, now they are standarized to ZP-xxxx. It was first announced about a year ago, and I first noticed the new numbering in the wild in early May at ZP-2102 (formerly CV-683, or ZV-683 as I styled it) entering Nuez de Ebro.

[Jhoan Seb]

It took a while before the A-numbers were posted in the field. I don't know exactly when they introduced the A-numbering (2011 is mentioned, but it has been said that it is older).

https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/Draft:Soviet_Central_Asia_Road_Numbering#Partial_Dismantling
I am currently working on a draft of that, specifically Kazakhstan transitioned from the Soviet system to an independent one in 2000 (https://law.gov.kz/client/#!/doc/7545/rus/05.12.2000) and it is the first mention of this system in Kazakh legislative documents. But it was de jure; de facto, it took about a decade to fully transition to this system. According to Road Numbering System: https://sites.google.com/site/roadnumberingsystems/home/countries/kazakhstan

[WillWeaverRVA]

Does Kazakhstan (or any other Central Asian former Soviet republic) still sign the European E-routes through the country?

Looks like Georgia does.

[Bickendan]

How far back is 'recent' being defined? India's 2011-2012 renumbering of the National Highway system still shows remnants of the old numbers on the ground.

[Jhoan Seb]

It depends largely on the Ministry of Transport. The neighboring country of Uzbekistan is introducing changes to its road numbering system to add routes that will begin with D and three numbers. The legislation passed in 2024 (https://lex.uz/docs/-6999488). And just this year, new road signs displaying these routes were already installed.

Honestly, Uzbekistan is more organized than its neighboring countries when it comes to route numbering. Even before this, they used to assign numbers to small regional routes.

[Chris]

Here are a few more examples of D-numbers in Uzbekistan:





Even the local road numbers are signed: 10V041. The prefix 10 indicates Toshkent viloyati (Tashkent).

[Chris]

In Spain they recently renumbered several autovías around Murcia. A-30 has been moved to the new western bypass (which is not yet entirely open to traffic). The older northern leg of A-30 has been renumbered to MU-32, while the southern leg has been renumbered to MU-31. MU-30 has been truncated to the new route of A-30.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://www.moit.gov.bt/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Road-Classification-and-Network-Information-of-Bhutan-2025.pdf
Bhutan has introduced a new tier for the classification of its numbering system. Both PNH and SNH roads have remained the same, but now regional roads are classified as Dzongkhag Roads, and their structure is DR-<Region Abbreviation>-<Two Numbers> (The region abbreviation is usually the first letters of the Dzongkhag, for example BU for Bumthang, CH for Chukha, MO for Mongar).

[Jhoan Seb]

Additionally, something that has flown under the radar is that South Sudan's Ministry of Roads and Bridges confirmed that the country had a road numbering system similar to that of Uganda and Ethiopia, where A numbers are used.
"South Sudan is connected to Ethiopia through five main entry points. We have the A10 route, connecting Gambella and Pagak, and the A20 route linking Jikow and Nasir. There's also the A60 route at Akobo, the A30 at Pochala, and the A85 at Raat" (Source: https://www.eyeradio.org/govt-announces-construction-of-paloch-maiwut-road-to-begin-next-year/)

[Chris]

https://datacatalog.worldbank.org/search/dataset/0040281

The World Bank has held a catalogue of roads in South Sudan, which was introduced in 2011.

There are several classes of roads:

Interstate Roads (I1 to I11)
Primary Roads (P1 to P13)
Secondary Roads (S1 to S49)

I've never seen a photo of a road number shield though.

These numbers are different than what is mentioned in the article. I wonder if they mention the A-road numbering from the time when the country was still a part of Sudan.

[Jhoan Seb]

I wonder if they mention the A-road numbering from the time when the country was still a part of Sudan.

Has Sudan ever had road numbering? I know about Marcel Monterie's website on road numbering in Sudan, but I haven't found any references to it. And I'm not sure if Anglo-Egyptian Sudan had road numbering.
https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/c4007226-uganda-southsudan-finalfullrap-report-july-10-1.pdf
"For the South Sudanese section, three line-route options (see Figure 3.1-1) were envisaged. All the three alignments run outside the boundaries of the Nimule National Park, near the South Sudan – Uganda border, and then roughly follow the route of Nimule - Juba main road (A43)" (https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/c4007226-uganda-southsudan-finalfullrap-report-july-10-1.pdf) The African Bank actually uses the A-Road Numbering for South Sudan and doesn't use the Interstate one. Quoting mxn on the AARW server:
"I think this is a road inventory system for funding purposes, not an actual route wayfinding system – if it's even for real. It was added to the article last year."

[Chris]

https://kz.qaj.kz/news/zha-aly-tar/3407/

This is the first press release I've seen that references a KAZ number in Kazakhstan:

KAZ23 «Қостанай – Әулиекөл – Сұрған» автомобиль жолының

KAZ23 "Kostanai - Auliekol - Surgan" highway

Most press releases don't seem to reference a number at all, they usually refer to roads by name, like the 'Astana - Öskemen Highway'. Given the sparse road density, this usually doesn't lead to confusion or ambiguity.

[Jhoan Seb]

These numbers are different than what is mentioned in the article. I wonder if they mention the A-road numbering from the time when the country was still a part of Sudan.

You can see the full South Sudanese A-Road Numbering from here. It is recognized by the Ministry of Roads and Bridges of South Sudan.

[Jhoan Seb]

Has Sudan ever had road numbering? I know about Marcel Monterie's website on road numbering in Sudan, but I haven't found any references to it. And I'm not sure if Anglo-Egyptian Sudan had road numbering.

https://www.google.com.co/books/edition/Basic_Facts_about_the_Sudan/85MFAQAAIAAJ?hl=es&gbpv=1&bsq=%22A-43%22+%22Nimule%22&dq=%22A-43%22+%22Nimule%22&printsec=frontcover
I found a route log published by the Sudanese Ministry of Social Affairs (Wizārat al-Shuʼūn al-Ijtimāʻīyah, although it uses a rather archaic system for transliterating Arabic that was used in the USA).
This is the first mention of A43 in what is known as South Sudan, and it confirms the data provided by Marcel Monterie in his article on Sudan.

It also coincides with the fact that it was published in the 1950s, when the British Empire assigned road numbering to its colonies and protectorates in Africa.
https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/British_East_Africa_Road_Numbering
I will probably write a full article about this on Aaroads Wiki, as I had previously worked on Sudanese roads.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/List_of_highways_in_Panama#Road_numbering

- New signage placed for the new interchanges in Panamá Oeste

I have been researching this for Aaroads Wiki, but recently the Panamanian Ministry of Public Works confirmed that the highway that runs through the center of La Chorrera and Arraijan has been classified as "Highway 4." In 2017-2018, the Panamanian Ministry of Public Works changed the alignment of Highway 1 so that it would pass through the Chorrera-Arraijan Highway (a bypass), but they didn't sign Highway 4. A lot of the signage around the "Corredor de las Playas" now shows the shield for Highway 4 (https://archive.ph/vYdid), Panama currently uses US Routes for marking their national routes.

- Old Signage in La Chorrera during the 2000s (Already removed)

https://www.openstreetmap.org/changeset/166326460#map=13/8.90421/-79.73568 <- I also updated the OSM Route to reflect this change

[Jhoan Seb]

https://kz.qaj.kz/news/zha-aly-tar/3407/

This is the first press release I've seen that references a KAZ number in Kazakhstan:

KAZ23 «Қостанай – Әулиекөл – Сұрған» автомобиль жолының

KAZ23 "Kostanai - Auliekol - Surgan" highway

Most press releases don't seem to reference a number at all, they usually refer to roads by name, like the 'Astana - Öskemen Highway'. Given the sparse road density, this usually doesn't lead to confusion or ambiguity.

Also Kazakh new outlets are starting to use the new road numbering system:

https://tengrinews.kz/autonews/skolko-zaryadok-elektrokarov-na-kazahstanskih-trassah-578572/

"Трасса KAZ06 Жайсан – Актобе – Шымкент – Алматы – Хоргос"
"Route KAZ06 Zhaitsan – Aktobe – Shymkent – Almaty – Khorgos"

https://kaz.inform.kz/news/soltustk-kazakstan-oblisinda-zhol-zhabildi-62fad3/
"KAZ13 «Жезқазған – Арқалық – Петропавловск» — км 673–786; KZ15-05 «Волошинка – Сергеевка – Тимирязево» — км 56–119."

[Jhoan Seb]

You can see the full South Sudanese A-Road Numbering from here. It is recognized by the Ministry of Roads and Bridges of South Sudan.

Speaking of South Sudan, a few months ago there was controversy because UNRA was putting up signs in Atiak saying that the A6 stopped in Sudan. (https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/AARoads:The_Interchange#Uganda_Road_Numbering)



Uganda has had a road numbering plan in place since 2010, according to information provided by JICA (https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/12013058_01.pdf). However, it was not until this year that UNRA (Uganda DOT) implemented this road numbering on signs. Unfortunately, that road numbering system was created when South Sudan was part of Sudan, which would explain why the engineers placed that sign that way.

https://x.com/akajosh1/status/1884301273245307116 (Also UNRA marked another B Grade road in the border, hopefully all the regions in Uganda will get proper road numbering in their signage)

The new road signage was reported by South Sudan Global via Facebook.

[Jhoan Seb]

This is nothing new, but I am trying to find information about Egyptian Road Numbering. Unfortunately, many websites use outdated numbers to classify Egyptian routes (or use Mashreq routes as a substitute).

https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/User:Jhoan_Seb/Egypt/Misc <- Highway Photos
https://wiki.aaroads.com/wiki/Draft:List_of_highways_in_Egypt <- Current draft

The only website I found that at least has the correct road numbering is Marcel's (https://sites.google.com/site/roadnumberingsystems/home/countries/egypt). Although I have been checking the contributions of DigitalEgypt, a group of mappers from the country who have correctly added some numbers in OSM.

For now, I have been able to confirm that the International Coastal Road running from Port Said to the Libyan border is Highway 10 (the DigitalEgypt team already knew this and added the reference years ago, but now I have visual confirmation in Kafr el Sheikh that the route is classified).

Additionally, the Bilbeis-Zagazig Road is Highway 17. (The DigitalEgypt team also added the reference; unfortunately, the Road Numbering Systems website does not have it).

Also Egypt is the only African country in the world that uses the Impact Font for Highway Shields.

[Chris]

Someone who visited Egypt last year and traveled there by car (from Hurghada into and around the Nile Valley) said that he had seen no road signs with numbers.

They do seem to exist sporadically.

I've also never been able to locate an official source regarding route numbering. Maybe there are some GIS viewers that have them, or a decree which designates roads. However this is difficult to find if you can't read Arabic, Google Translate only works to some degree with stuff like this.

Maybe an AI chatbot can dig up some sources. LLMs tend to be fairly good at locating information in other languages. Though not at finding scanned PDFs or searching in databases.

[Jhoan Seb]

I've also never been able to locate an official source regarding route numbering. Maybe there are some GIS viewers that have them, or a decree which designates roads. However this is difficult to find if you can't read Arabic, Google Translate only works to some degree with stuff like this.

Yeah, GARBLT is using the generic "Freeway" icon instead of the Blue Interstate shields now. But the system was implemented in the 2000s. There is a Traffic Control Manual that, ironically, has the highway shields with their numbers on the cover, but the only copies are in Egyptian libraries. (See Minute 9:30 of the video)

But yeah, it's difficult. GARBLT uses Eastern Arabic numerals for its records. Even so, TomTom, in collaboration with Microsoft, has already implemented correct road numbering for large parts of Egyptian roads, even surpassing the OSM team (the team that was adding the correct road numbering was DigitalEgypt,  I know this because some route numbers doesn't match with OSM logs) (It seems that Bing Maps still uses the route numbers from OSM for Libya, but it seems that Egypt is the exception here)


TomTom's coverage is quite good. The road to Abu Sambel near the Sudanese border is Highway 195, and the road between Al Quseir and Qena is Highway 256. I am currently adding a reference to Bing Maps to confirm the signage for these routes.