The Route nationale 205 is a

Route nationale A ''route nationale'', or simply ''nationale'', is a class of trunk road in France. They are important roads of national significance which cross broad portions of the French territory, in contrast to departmental or communal roads which serve m ...

of France that is located entirely within the

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

of Haute-Savoie. It starts off from the

France–Switzerland border The France–Switzerland border is long. Its current path is mostly the product of the Congress of Vienna of 1815, with the accession of Geneva, Neuchâtel and Valais to the Swiss Confederation, but it has since been modified in detail, the la ...

in the commune of

Gaillard Gaillard () is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Gaillard lies on the border with Switzerland, 5 km east of the city centre of Geneva. The biggest border crossing is ca ...

which is adjacent to Geneva; and ends at Chamonix, at the French side of the Mont Blanc Tunnel. It is also nicknamed the ''Route blanche'' (white route) due to its snowiness, and shares the title with the

A40 autoroute The Autoroute A40 is a motorway in France that extends from Mâcon on the west to Passy on the east, terminating not far from Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The road runs through Bresse, the high southern Jura Mountains, northern Prealps a ...

, also nicknamed the ''Autoroute blanche''.

Route

The rows shown in yellow are the endpoints of the RN205.

History

This road was created following the reform of 1972, taking over several sections of old national roads: *the RN 505 from Gaillard to Contamine-sur-Arve (Findrol); *a section of the RN 203 from Contamine-sur-Arve to Bonneville; *a section of the RN 506 from Bonneville to Cluses; *a section of the RN 202 from Cluses to Passy; *a section of the RN 506 from Passy to Chamonix-Mont-Blanc; *the RN 506a from Chamonix-Mont-Blanc to the Mont-Blanc tunnel. It was split by the A40 motorway, which opened from Gaillard to Passy between 1973 and 1976. The decree of December 5, 2005 provided for the conservation of the Passy section, at the end of the A 40 motorway, up to the Mont-Blanc tunnel; the section not concerned is downgraded to departmental road 1205 and its management is entrusted to the General Council of Haute-Savoie. However, since May 1, 2010, the RN 205 has been granted to the company ATMB, which already operates the

and the Mont Blanc tunnel.

Before the Reform

Before the 1972 reform, there was an RN 205 in the

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

. It was initially to connect Nice to

Barcelonnette Barcelonnette (; oc, Barciloneta de Provença, also ; obsolete it, Barcellonetta) is a commune of France and a subprefecture in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. It is located in the southern ...

via the top of the Bonette. Border conflicts will mean that the road will not reach the bordering department of

Basses-Alpes Alpes-de-Haute-Provence or sometimes abbreviated as AHP (; oc, Aups d'Auta Provença; ) is a department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France, bordering Alpes-Maritimes and Italy to the east, Var to the south, Vaucluse to the west, ...

and another road had to be built by the Col de la Cayolle to reach Barcelonnette. The route from Nice to the Pont de la Mescla was integrated into the RN202 in 1920. The RN 205 stopped at Pont-Haut in the town of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage and the Alpes-Maritimes General Council completed the route leading to the Col de la Bonette. The RN 205 is downgraded to RD 2205 following the reform of 1972. Since 2012, this road has been named M 2205, the municipalities crossed being members of the Nice Côte d'Azur metropolis. *Mescla bridge, municipality of

Malaussène Malaussène (; oc, Malaussèna; it, Malaussena) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in southeastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also compr ...

(RN 202 then D 6202 then M 6202) * Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée * Isola * Saint-Etienne-de-Tinée * Pont-Haut, municipality of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage

References

{{Reflist

205 Year 205 ( CCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Aurelius and Geta (or, less frequently, year 958 '' Ab urbe condita' ...

Transport in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes