''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n national

highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights of way. In the United States, it is also used as an equivalent term to controlled-access highway, or ...

Germany

Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled with rectangular yellow signs with black numerals, as opposed to the white-on-blue markers of the ''

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

s. ''Bundesstraßen'', like autobahns (''Autobahnen''), are maintained by the federal agency of the Transport Ministry. In the German highway system they rank below autobahns, but above the ''

Landesstraße ''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'' ) are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are road ...

n'' and ''

Kreisstraße A Kreisstraße (, or 'county road') is a class of road in Germany. It carries traffic between the towns and villages within a ''Districts of Germany, Kreis'' or district or between two neighbouring districts. In importance, the ''Kreisstraße'' ...

n'' maintained by the

federal states A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governing status of the c ...

and the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

respectively. The numbering was implemented by law in 1932 and has overall been retained up to today, except for those roads located in the

former eastern territories of Germany In present-day Germany, the former eastern territories of Germany () refer to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany, i.e. the Oder–Neisse line, which historically had been considered German and which were annexed b ...

. One distinguishing characteristic between German ''Bundesstraßen'' and ''Autobahnen'' is that there usually is a general 100 km/h (62 mph)

speed limit Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed, express ...

on federal highways out of built-up areas, as opposed to the merely advisory speed limit ('' Richtgeschwindigkeit'') of 130 km/h (83 mph) in unmarked sections of the autobahns. However, a number of ''Bundesstraßen'' have been extended as expressways ( dual carriageways) (colloquially called "Yellow Autobahns"), which can be compared to motorway-grade A roads in the U.K. like the

A1(M) A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1, a major north–south road which connects London, the capital of England, with Edinburgh, the capita ...

. Many of these have speed limits of usually 100–120 km/h, others have only an advisory speed limit like autobahns. Most sections of the ''Bundesstraßen'' are only

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation, central reservation/median strip to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road is a type of ...

with one lane for each direction and no hard

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder m ...

pull-out area. The closest equivalent in the United States would be the

United States Numbered Highway System The United States Numbered Highway System (often called U.S. Routes or U.S. Highways) is an integrated network of roads and highways numbered within a nationwide grid in the contiguous United States. As the designation and numbering of these ...

Austria

In contrast to Germany, according to a 2002 amendment of the Austrian federal road act, ''Bundesstraßen'' is the official term referring only to

autobahns The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

(''Bundesstraßen A'') and

limited-access road A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a contro ...

s (''Schnellstraßen, Bundesstraßen S''). The administration of all other former federal highways (''Bundesstraßen B'') has passed to the

(''Bundesländer''). Therefore, officially classified as ''

n'', they are still colloquially called ''Bundesstraßen'' and have retained their "B" designation (except for

Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( ; ; , , or ) is the westernmost States of Austria, state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area after Vienna and, although it also has the second-smallest population, it is the state with the second-highest popu ...

), followed by the number and a name. They are marked by a blue square sign with white number and are per se priority roads. Before 2002 there has been a further category of ''Bundesstraßen'' with circular yellow sign and black number that shows that this road has no fixed priority (right of way for users). A few yellow signs lived longer than 2002.

Motorway plans

Germany and Austria have plans to reconstruct and/or replace Bundesstraße as/by motorways (Autobahn), outside built-up areas, especially the important ones of 20 to 30 thousands kilometers of the ways in Germany. For Austria they have to replace another 8000 km by schnellstraße/motorways, then Schnellstraße have to be replaced by/rebuilt as motorways.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundesstrasse sv:Riksväg#Andra länder

Germany

Austria

Motorway plans

See also

External links