Road Numbering Changes

[Jhoan Seb]

https://www.utinform.hu/en/news/allasfoglalas-az-uj-tranzitut-szabalyozasrol-es-a-nem-tranzit-forgalomra-vonatkozo-jogszabalyi-rendelkezesekrol?d=0

The transit route network consists of corridors connecting border crossing points and is predominantly based on the expressway network. These routes are designated by the letter "T" and a numerical identifier aligned with the sectoral road numbering system. A detailed list of the transit routes is set out in Annex 2/A to ITM Decree No. 26/2021.

Hungary is now expanding its road numbering system and now has Transit Routes represented with T.

[Chris]

This documents has a list with T-routes: https://net.jogtar.hu/jogszabaly?docid=a2100026.itm

Scroll down to, or ctrl+F: 2/A. melléklet a 26/2021. (VI. 28.) ITM rendelethez

[Jhoan Seb]

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

It took me some time, but I think I have finally been able to determine the Road Numbering of Panama.

Within the 1960s, the Tommy Guardia Institute along with the Ministry of Public Works released several topographical maps around Panama with the first road numbering system. For the most part the roads were replaced with the exception of Highway 1, Highway 3 and some provincial roads in Veraguas, Herrera and Panama Oeste.

The routes went from west to east, Chiriqui initially had numbers starting with 1, the border between Veraguas and Chiriqui were routes starting with 2, part of central Veraguas was 3 (Route 33 is the best known of this sector).

The zones between Eastern Veraguas were 4; Herrera and Los Santos were 5 and were the only provinces that maintained/reverted back to their road designation of the 1960s.

Cocle was routes based on 6, Colón and Chame based on 7 and the roads in Panama were based on 8.

Per the maps hosted by UC Berkeley: https://digicoll.lib.berkeley.edu/record/222011?ln=en&v=uv


Within the 1991-1999 system, regional codes are given in alphabetical order: Bocas del Toro = 1, Coclé = 2, Colón = 3, Chiriquí = 4, Darién = 5, Herrera = 6, Los Santos = 7, Panama/Panama Oeste = 8, Veraguas = 9.

Coclé, Colón and Chiriquí reassigned a large part of their provincial road network based on this system, but Veraguas only partially changed the routes in the southern coastal zone. Herrera and Los Santos temporarily adopted codes 6 and 7, but eventually reverted to routes based on 5. In Panama Oeste, the Districts of San Carlos and Chame also temporarily adopted base 8 routes but eventually opted for routes based on 7 codes.

Per the maps published here: https://alairelibre.net/mapas/ and https://stridata-si.opendata.arcgis.com/

The road numbering currently seen in part of Google Maps (with the exception of some parts of Chiriqui which uses old numbering from the 1960s mainly because mix the two databases) was designated by the AGI (Agency for Government Innovation) which assigned codes in 2014 for road designation in Panama City: Highway 4/Highway 6/Highway 9.

[Jhoan Seb]

I also found some of the 1982 Edition of the Chiriquí General Map, you can see the old numbering before they replaced with routes based on 4X. This also confirms HWy 21 is the old number for Gualaca.

https://leolibri.net/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=10996

[Chris]

Highway 4 is signed at Arraiján. According to reports, until recently only Highway 1 was actually signed in the field.

[Jhoan Seb]

Highway 4 is signed at Arraiján. According to reports, until recently only Highway 1 was actually signed in the field.

Not really, Highway 2 was signed since 2019. And if you look deeper, Highway 89 was signed in La Chorrera. Sadly, most of the newer Panama Maps published by Tommy Guardia doesn't include road numbering since ANATI (The national authority for land administration) took over the institute before mappers of Tommy Guardia could access the road numbering used by the Ministry of Public Works (MOP)

[Jhoan Seb]

https://www.inec.gob.pa/archivos/P5241333-21.pdf#page=11

You can find some mentions of the road numbering in some goverment papers, for example, INEC ratifies the number of Highway 425 in Chiriquí.

I want to buy the "Mapa General de la República de Panamá" (The most recent version is from 2002), I have found some versions online and I already bought the Chitré one here. (https://www.chartsandmaps.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=3_223&products_id=89550)

Although sadly they don't have the one for Veraguas/Coclé. It's kinda sad, the best I could find was some really limited photos of the map. (For example, I know the road to Calobre is designated as Highway 21 in Coclé https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1190094959969863&set=pcb.1190095076636518)

[kphoger]

According to reports, until recently only Highway 1 was actually signed in the field.

Not really, Highway 2 was signed since 2019.

2019 was recent.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://openjicareport.jica.go.jp/pdf/11156205_01.pdf#page=40

While I was looking for sources for the article I came across this document from JICA (they are generally the only agency in charge of publishing and reporting on internal road numbering in developing countries).

The map is from 1994 and shows several of the routes between Colon and Panama City with numbers. Among them is Highway 34 to Portobelo, Highway 32 which connects Escobal to Fuerte Sheman. Also Cerro Azul Roadway in the Province of Panama is designated as Route 864.

[Jhoan Seb]

While waiting for my Panama map. I have been trying to update myself with new developments in certain developing countries.

I remember reading the news that the government of Laos officially expanded Highway 11 to reach the Thai border (both Google Maps and OSM have not updated anything regarding this).

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2025/03/19/new-road-between-vientiane-and-chiang-mai-cuts-travel-time-by-three-hours

Previously Highway 11 ended at Pak Lay, now it ends at Phu Doo Border Checkpoint. Although it is Laotian territory, the road was financed and built by NEDA, a lot of the curves have thai bollards, in case nobody knows the Thai engineers use these white-black roadmarkers, this isn't really that surprising since they done before it, for example the National Road 48 in Cambodia was built with support of the Thai government also use them.

https://www.neda.or.th/2023/upload/project/file/file-194-Eng-518.pdf

I don't have much pictures of the road, there is unofficial street view where an American expat took pictures of certain border posts and they show a French-style roadmarker with the number 21. Maybe a typo or something.

Edit: After making closer inspection in Thai websites, I found actual signage with the number 11. It seems they carbon-copy the Thai sign for route number but they removed the Royal Emblem. (From: https://www.thaich8.com/news_detail/140033)

[Jhoan Seb]

While was scrolling around São Tomé and Príncipe, I noticed that they use Portuguese-style stone markers. Google Maps and OSM has some road numbering but it seems that this is wrong. It should be EN6 not ES4.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/k1wAdxDpePKNAva36 This country is very tiny and it don't think there's so much about it online but still it's interesting how sometimes a lot of mapping services get the route number wrong and they start copy each other.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://afap.st/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Plano-de-Compromisso-Ambiental-e-Social-PCAS-Projeto-PTPC-II.pdf

"Site-specific Resettlement Plan (RP) for EN1 between Guadalupe and Neves and Lagarto Bay Marginal Road (ES101)"

I can't find more info about their road numbering.

EDIT: I found a route log from 1964 when Sao Tome and Principe used to be part of the Portuguese Empire.
https://www.google.com.co/books/edition/S_Tom%C3%A9_e_Pr%C3%ADncipe/LJE5AQAAIAAJ?hl=es-419&gbpv=1&bsq=Estrada+Nacional+N+Sao+Tome+and+Principe&dq=Estrada+Nacional+N+Sao+Tome+and+Principe&printsec=frontcover

[Jhoan Seb]

Well after researching some information about "misinformation" in AARW. It turns out that a person from Cyprus was complaining that Aaroads is* (now was) incorrectly stating the existence of the A4 Motorway, which does not exist.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/comments/1uabgae/can_anyone_tell_me_some_specific_details_about/

As a sidenote, I have nothing to do with this but I fixed part of the original article that was imported from enwiki. In case you want a scapegoat, I'm not one.

In any case, the user has reasonable doubts and that is that there are certain roads with dubious origins on the island, specifically in Nicosia.

For a strange reason, OSM designates Stasinou Avenue as B19 Route. (Code entered in 2021: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8169380/history/27)

SABRE has information on this, sadly much of it is unsourced: https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/Cyprus

[Chris]

I would say that Openstreetmap is generally accurate in regards to the official road numbering. Of course there are 190+ countries around the world and there are probably some cases where OSM is also off, or has jumped the gun in regards to changes.

Google Maps can be a mess, especially in some countries. For example some Balkan countries have renumbered their roads 5-10 years ago, but the signage has not been updated. So Google Maps shows route numbers that have been officially replaced many years ago. I think they use Google Street View data to corroborate route numbering changes, but in such cases there are long transition periods.

In some countries, many route numbers are not signed at all, even if they are officially designated by law. Even if they are changed, but still unsigned, Google Maps tends to show the older numbers.

[Jhoan Seb]

In some countries, many route numbers are not signed at all, even if they are officially designated by law. Even if they are changed, but still unsigned, Google Maps tends to show the older numbers.

I can relate to this a lot. Tanzania has changed their route numbering in 2000. Despite this, they use an outdated dataset from the 1960s containing the old A, B and C routes, which causes a lot of confusion even for locals. In Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, they use the Soviet era road numbering instead of the one introduced in independence. It's even more sadder when you found documentation by the government of Kyrgyzstan where it shows they use the numbers from Google Maps.

Panama is also another example parts of Chiriquí use the 1960s Road Numbering System since Google used old maps produced by the US army in Panama. Most of the roads were signed in base of 1X while the border between Chiriqui and Veraguas was signed with routes based in 2X. Chiriquí eventually renumbered a lot of the highways to be in base of 4X in the 1990s.

The current road numbering in Google Maps in Chiriquí is a mess, you found the proper route numbering along with some outdated numbers like "Highway 21" in Gualaca (Coclé eventually got this number in the 90s as the screenshot I shared within "Mapa General de la Republica de Panamá" contains the proper designation by the Ministry of Public Works) or "Highway 12" in Montresco doesn't even exist anymore.

The old road numbering of Chiriquí was added to Google Maps in 2010 meanwhile the current one was added in 2014, although Google and AGI forgot to change the refs of some of the provincial routes, which makes a really bad mess of highways codes. (This confused a lot of Panama mappers, I remember them issuing a statement about it in 2020: lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk/2020-February/084066.html)

The benefit of OSM is that you can change pretty much all of the refs, for Google Maps you can't barely change route names since they use a shitty AI system to approve edits. I already removed some of the wrong numbers in Chiriquí


- Screenshot is from 2010 (Some of the numbers got changed or removed, although some of the outdated are still part of Google Maps until this day): https://www.enlodados.com/2010/11/15/el-distrito-de-boquete-en-chiriqui/

[Jhoan Seb]

Going back to Cyprus. I remember the original user that spotted the errors complained about the existence of B13, which isn't not even really hard to find.

I found a map from 1994 that showcases it: https://www.google.com.co/books/edition/Landscapes_of_Cyprus/JGAe7oEtbJMC?hl=es&gbpv=1&dq=%22B22%22+%22Nicosia%22+%22Road%22&pg=PT6&printsec=frontcover / In addition that the 2025 Map by the Department of Lands and Survey also has it: https://portal.dls.moi.gov.cy/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/A_visitors_Map.pdf

Although it think the confusion is that those roads (Refering to B13, B16 and previously B17 but now it's E115) passed accross territory in Northern Cyprus (Which it's independent and it has their own road numbering based on the Turkish one). So maybe that the reason why they aren't properly signed or let anyone well known? Since in practice, they can only sign a really tiny stretch of road in Nicosia as it's the only territory that the Republic of Cyprus can control, while much of the rural part of the route is impossible to sign since either crosses the UN Buffer Zone or it's in territory where they don't have any authority. So most of "Southern" Cypriots can't drive for.

[kphoger]

Well after researching some information about "misinformation" in AARW. It turns out that a person from Cyprus was complaining that Aaroads is* (now was) incorrectly stating the existence of the A4 Motorway, which does not exist.

https://www.reddit.com/r/cyprus/comments/1uabgae/can_anyone_tell_me_some_specific_details_about/

As a sidenote, I have nothing to do with this but I fixed part of the original article that was imported from enwiki. In case you want a scapegoat, I'm not one.

In any case, the user has reasonable doubts and that is that there are certain roads with dubious origins on the island, specifically in Nicosia.

For a strange reason, OSM designates Stasinou Avenue as B19 Route. (Code entered in 2021: https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/8169380/history/27)

SABRE has information on this, sadly much of it is unsourced: https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/wiki/Cyprus

Do we need an AARoads Wiki just fucking SUCKS now thread on the forum?

[Jhoan Seb]

https://maps.app.goo.gl/YhVc3U23aDsyi1PL9 In our defense, the government of Larnaca signposted the A4 even though it doesn't exist. Still it's hard to keep on like 190 different countries, most of third world countries have a road numbering but like 99% of the population doesn't know anything about it.

Not everyone is perfect, you can see errors in SABRE coverage for some US states and WegenWiki has some issues with some small countries. AARW still lacks information in some areas but at least we made the attempt to the fix the misinformation problems (people in SABRE and WegenWiki also work very hard, I tend to put some of the articles in External links, so roadgeeks can cross reference for everything and spot errors).

We currently have a proper route log for Egypt, Panama and Belize, which neither Wikipedia has.

[Jhoan Seb]

https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Cyprus&oldid=2177863 (Edit from July 2021, it mentions that B19 goes through Nicosia to Athienou)
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Cyprus&oldid=2795293 (Edit from December 2024, article is changed to Outer ring road of Walled City of Nicosia for B19)

They used these maps to get the road numbering but it some of them are now lost media *crazy*
https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/w/index.php?title=Cyprus&oldid=2179134#Some_Maps

Also explain where Travel Mapping got their data.
https://travelmapping.net/devel/updates.php?syscount=160&updatecount=all
> "2022-09-05   Cyprus   B19   cyp.b019   Route added"



Link to the map: https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?url=http://eservices.dls.moi.gov.cy/arcgis/rest/services/National/Topography_GR/MapServer/13

Wondering why the Redditor only complained about AARW but it didn't investigate any futher about this?

Any case B13 has been in existence since the 90s while B19 was designated in 2021

[Jhoan Seb]

https://www.google.com.co/books/edition/Geologists_Association_Guides/7yzwAAAAMAAJ?hl=es-419&gbpv=1&bsq=%22Road%22+%22K717+Series%22&dq=%22Road%22+%22K717+Series%22&printsec=frontcover It seems that Cyprus received the official numbering during the 1970s, the cited maps match the current road numbering within this 1992 book.

The K717 Series are maps produced by the Great Britain Directorate of Military Survey between 1972-1973 (The claim in SABRE Wiki that Cyprus established their road numbering in 1974 isn't really that """correct""", in a lot of quotation marks, since well the island is divided in two different nations, I guess the (Republic of) Cyprus eventually dropped pretty much of all their route numbering in the North since they didn't control it, not sure if the route re-numbering they are talking about, still I'm kinda wish that SABRE dropped more sources after making certain claims to avoid misinformation, I'm gonna try to fact check some of the statements since the current information I have isn't really complete)

https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/1421739

[Chris]

https://www.utinform.hu/en/news/allasfoglalas-az-uj-tranzitut-szabalyozasrol-es-a-nem-tranzit-forgalomra-vonatkozo-jogszabalyi-rendelkezesekrol?d=0

The transit route network consists of corridors connecting border crossing points and is predominantly based on the expressway network. These routes are designated by the letter "T" and a numerical identifier aligned with the sectoral road numbering system. A detailed list of the transit routes is set out in Annex 2/A to ITM Decree No. 26/2021.

Hungary is now expanding its road numbering system and now has Transit Routes represented with T.

I've driven through Hungary extensively in June, but had not seen any T-number. I've been on M0, M2, M3, M4, M5, M7, M30, M35 & M43.

A new exit sign on M5 at Kecskemét shows M200:


M200 is outside of the conventional Hungarian motorway numbering scheme (which is based on the national road system). However it is planned as an outer bypass of Budapest. It seems to have replaced M8, which appears to have been scrapped entirely as a planned east-west motorway across Hungary.