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General description:

Motorways and expressways:

AP1-AP6/A1-A6 radiate in clockwise order from Madrid, and are derived from the corresponding national roads NI-NVI, AP7-AP9/A7-A9 are main coastal highways.

Autopistas and autovias generally form an integrated network, with motorway sections (AP) alternating with expressway sections (A). There are some exceptions: the A2 runs parallel to the AP2 between Fraga and Barcelona. It is in fact the upgraded NII. Similarly the A4 near Jerez de la Frontera is an upgraded section of the NIV running parallel to the AP4. Numbers AP/A70-92 are not according to a zone system and are assigned more or less sequentially.

For a route list, see AP/A roads.

New toll motorways with R numbers have been built around Madrid. These are parallel to the radial national roads with the same number (e.g. R-3 runs along N-III).

National roads:

`Roman` are roman numerals I-VI. These roads radiate in clockwise order from the Plaza Puerta del Sol in Madrid.

The radial highways divide Spain into six zones, each of which bears the number of the road bounding it upon the left, facing outwards from the centre. Each road commencing in any particular zone is given a number beginning with that zone numeral, and retains this number throughout its entire length irrespective of the zone in which it terminates. Dual carriageway N-roads with motorway characteristics sometimes have exit numbers determined by kilometers.

Regional roads:

Zones correspond to those defined by 'N' numbers. Zones for islands are as follows (see also the region table):

Provincial roads:

1- and 2-digit numbers are usually motorways, but in some provinces, for example Asturias and Castelló de la Plana, two-digit numbers are used for minor roads also.

Zones:

In most provinces, a system similar to that of the national zones is adopted. The numbers consist of a provincial abbreviation and up to 4 digits. However, these systems are constructed in such a way that usually the numerical part of the number does not change when one crosses a provincial boundary. For example, the P 912 in Palencia is joined to the VA 912 in Valladolid, here 'P' stands for Palencia while 'VA' means Valladolid. Unfortunately, there are many exceptions, and a provincial highway may be joined to a carretera comarcal or even a carretera nacional in a bounding province. Also note that community roads are not necessarily more important than provincial roads. There are only a few provinces that have both.

Currently many provinces are replacing all of their provincial numbers by community numbers.

There are also (less important) provincial roads with other identifiers, often obtained by adding a letter, typically P or V, to the standard abbreviation. Examples are HV for Huelva (H > HV) and CP for Cordoba (CO > CP).

Note that the prefix 'A' may have the following meanings: Autovía (Expressway), Community of Andalucia, Community of Aragón, Province of Álava, Province of Alicante, Minor road in Murcia (zone 4). Since motorway numbers are always below 70, their numbers cannot be confused with local road numbers, which always have three or four digits, except the Andalucian A92 and Murcia minor roads. Similarly, Catalonian route numbers have two digits, while the Carreteras Comarcales always have three or four digits. AV can be a provincial road in Ávila, or a lower class provincial road in Álava. There are other examples of prefixes with more than one meaning. There are road numbers that occur several times, e.g. A129. However, there are no provinces in a community with the same code.

Road signs: Between the class identifier (E, A etc.) and the numeral, one always writes a dash ('-'), even in European route numbers, which is not customary in most other countries. In the region table, these dashes are omitted.

Picture from 1992

European, Expressway, national and provincial numbers, 2014

Green signs in Barcelona, 2015

History:

In 1926 a plan to improve the most important roads was made, the Circuito Nacional de Firmes Especiales (CNFE). The roads were numbered I - XIII, see Wegenwiki. For more details see the Carreteras históricas blog.

The N and C numbers were introduced in 1941. In the 1960's, provincial road numbers were introduced. The system became more and more complicated as other local road numbers were added. Recently, it has become more systematic as the trend seems to be to use community road numbers for main roads.

In 1971 A-numbers were defined for motorways. This numbering had one-digit numbers for the most important radial highways, odd two-digit numbers for other motorways more or less in the direction to/from Madrid, and even two-digit numbers for lateral roads.

See Decreto 1105/1971.

In 1975 the numbers A7, A8 and A9 for the long-distance motorways along the east, north and west coast were introduced and some more numbers were changed, see Decreto 2573/1975.

In 2001, many main roads in Catalonia have been given 2-d C numbers (community roads). See the Generalitat de Catalunya website. The E9 in Barcelona now has the number C16 (it did not have a Spanish number before).

Initially, all A roads were motorways. From around 1990, A numbers were also assigned to dual carriageways with motorway characteristics built to a lower standard (so-called Autovías). Their number increased steadily and by 2000, the majority of A roads were autovias rather than autopistas.

In 2003, a new class AP reserved exclusively for motorways was introduced. In some cases, an old N road was upgraded to an A road (e.g. A2 became AP2 and NII became A2 between Fraga and Barcelona).

Various regions and provinces have recently changed their system, e.g. Albacete in April 2014.

In Andalusia, road numbers have been changed several times. Overview:

National roads

Former Carreteras Comarcales

Sources and links: various maps and atlases

1. Official sites:

   1. Direccion General de Trafico

   2. Ministerio de Fomento

   3. Planeamiento del Sistema Nacional de Autopistas

   4. Plan General de Carreteras 1984/1991

   5. New road numbers in Catalonia

2. New road numbers Albacete

3. Road sign design standards

4. Other links:

• 1. Motorway exit lists by Michal Halabica

  2. ASETA

  3. Metidos en Carretera Motorway signs 1984 - 1991

  4. Autopistas

  5. Catalonia 2009

  6. Autopistas de Navarra

  7. A68

  8. Alava map

  9. List of motorways and expressways

  10. Madrid maps

  11. Navarra map

  12. Catalonia map

  13. Pais Vasco

  14. Red de Carreteras del Estado

  15. Autopistas y Autovias

  16. Carreteras comarcales Wikipedia 

5. New numbers in Mallorca (2005)

• 1. Circuito Nacional de Firmes Especiales carreterashistoricas blog

  2. Circuito Nacional de Firmes Especiales route list on Wegenwiki (in Dutch).

6. History of road signs

7. Other pages within this site:

• 1. Europe

  2. A roads (to be updated in 2007)

  3. Road number colours in Spain

  4. Road sign colours in Europe

Region table

Road number colours

Marcel Monterie