History

In 1843, Luxembourg became the first country in Europe to create a government agency dedicated to infrastructure engineering. The country was divided into two districts (Diekirch and Luxembourg-Ville) dealing first with the construction of bridges, and later a broader scope including roads and autoroutes. By 1900, Luxembourg - small and easily networked - had one of the best road systems in the world. During World War 2 and the Nazi occupation, the country saw devastating setbacks to its road system. At least 100 bridges had been destroyed, amongst innumerable other structures. Due to this, the national road system was rebuilt from 1945 onwards to a higher degree of engineering standards than many other nations. Luxembourg's first autoroute was the A6.

Construction began in 1969 linking Arlon at the Belgian border with the western side of Luxembourg-Ville. The early 1970s saw the construction of the A4 from Esch, and the A3 from the French border at Dudelange to the capital. Autoroute construction was stalled during the 1980s, and only small upgrades and additions were made until the early 1990s - the beltway around the southern side of Luxembourg-Ville was constructed and the A1 to the German border near Trier was completed in June 1992. This was followed by construction of the A13, which linked up with the new German A8. Currently, the country is constructing the last autoroute in the master plan, the A7 - which connects the north of the country with the capital. Construction is ongoing, and the entire route will not be complete until 2011.

Current State

Luxembourg's roadway system is characterized mostly by routes which connect cities in other countries, and thus there is a high amount of truck/lorry traffic. The capital beltway is still mostly 2 lanes and is often choked with traffic. Most of the autoroute miles in the country are still 2 lanes in each direction, and most of the national routes are 2 lanes with a center turning lane when space permits.

Numbering System

Luxembourg has A-roads, B-roads, N-roads, and CR routes. A-roads are autoroutes and are built as limited access facilities. B-roads are important secondary routes, that may or may not have autoroute characteristics. They have been pared down over the decades, and now only two remain. N-roads are national roads, which link larger towns and were used as primary through roads before the advent of the autoroutes. CR roads are well signed and connect small towns and villages.

As with many countries, Luxembourg uses its capital as a focal point for road numbering. "Like the hands of a clock" reads the original document calling for a road numbering scheme to be put in place. National Road 1 (N1) runs northeast from Luxembourg-Ville to Germany. The other national routes (N2, N3, N4, etc) radiate out from the capital in a clockwise manner. The autoroutes, when constructed, simply took the number of the nearest N-road. (N1 -> A1, for example).

Many route numbers date from 1985, when the country introduced a new numbering scheme to coincide with the introduction of new E-road numbers. E-roads in Luxembourg are well signposted.