Africa Master Thread

[si404]

Continent/Regional systems:
(these are mostly just hyped-up development corridors at the moment, though the long term plan is to have them as international road networks)
afrtah - UNECA Trans-African Highways
afrcu - UEMOA Community Roads
afrea - EAC Road Network (si404)
afrrtr - SADC Regional Trunk Roads (si404)

Freeway systems:
afrsnf - Africa Named Freeways?
alga - Algeria Autoroutes
coda - DRC Motorway
gaba - Gabon Autoroutes
mara - Morocco Autoroutes
nama - Namibia A Roads
ngae - Nigeria Expressways (si404)
sena - Senegal Autoroutes
tuna - Tunisia Autoroutes
ugam - Uganda Motorways (si404)

National systems:
agoen - Angola Estrada Nacional (si404)
bdirn - Burundi Routes Nationale (si404)
benrnie - Benin Route Nationale Inter-Etat
benrn - Benin Route Nationale
bfan - Burkina Faso Route Nationale
bwaa - Botswana A Roads (si404)
cafrn - CAR Routes Nationale
civa - Cote d'Ivoire Main Roads
cmrn - Cameroon Routes Nationale
codn - DRC Routes Nationale (si404)
cogn - Congo Routes Nationale (si404)
comrn - Comoros Routes Nationale (si404)
cpv - Cabo Verde Estrada Nacional (odd system - need to investigate further)
djirn - Djibouti Routes Nationale
dzan - Algeria Routes Nationale
egy - Egypt?
erip - Eritrea Primary Roads
etha - Ethiopia Trunk Roads
gabn - Gabon Routes Nationale (si404)
ghan - Ghana National Roads
ginn - Guinea Routes Nationale
gnb - Guinea-Bissau ?
gnq - Equatorial Guinea (no numbered roads. Two named semi-freeways, and part of TAH10 run in region) (si404)
kena - Kenya A Roads (si404)
kenb - Kenya B Roads (si404)
lbr - Liberia ?
lby - Libya ?
lsoa - Lesotho Main Roads (si404)
marn - Morocco National Roads (panda80)
mdgn - Madagascar National Roads
mlin - Mali Routes Nationale
mozn - Mozambique Estrada Nacional (si404)
mrtn - Mauritania Routes Nationale
musm - Mauritius Motorways (si404)
musa - Mauritius Primary Main Roads (si404)
mwim - Malawi Main Roads (si404)
namb - Namibia Major Routes (si404)
nerrn - Niger Route Nationale
ngaa - Nigeria Federal Trunk Main Roads
rwanr - Rwanda National Roads (si404)
sdna - Sudan Trunk Roads
senn - Senegal Route Nationale (si404)
sle - Sierra Leone ?
som - Somalia ?
ssd - South Sudan ?
stpen - Sao Tome and Principe Estrada Nacional (si404)
swzmr - Eswatini Main Roads (si404)
syc - Seychelles ?
tcd - Chad ?
tgo - Togo ?
tunrn - Tunisia Routes Nationale (si404)
tzat - Tanzania Trunk Roads (si404)
uga - Uganda ? (currently part of kena / kenb)
zafn - South Africa National Highways
zafr - South Africa Main Provincial Roads (si404)
zmbt - Zambia Trunk Roads (si404)
zmbm - Zambia Main Roads (si404)
zwea - Zimbabwe A Roads (si404)

[michih]

I have a question about system names:

marn - Morocco N Roads

The official languages in Morocco are Arabic and Berber.
The Arabian system name would be "Morocco الطريق الوطنية" and I thought French is an official language too, and the name should be "Morocco Routes Nationales". But I've just realized that it is not an official language according to wikipedia. So I think "Morocco National Roads" is really the right name. English because the official language does not use Latin alphabet. Am I right?

What's about countries where French is really the official language, like Togo or Gabon? Should it be French or do we wanna use English all over Africa?

btw: panda80 announced to start drafting marn. Should be noted in the list.

[si404]

English because the official language does not use Latin alphabet. Am I right?

Transliteration, rather than that IIRC.

I've used place holder names for some systems.

[vdeane]

In the Highway Browser, the Congo Routes Nationale system is identified as being in the Congo (DRC) region, yet shouldn't the region just be Congo, with Congo (DRC) used for the DRC Routes Nationale system?

[si404]

Copy-paste error. Fixed locally.

[yakra]

What to do about the Abyei Area?

[michih]

Shouldn't musm be a tier 1 system instead of tier 3 and kena tier 4 instead of tier 3?

[si404]

What to do about the Abyei Area?

Cross that bridge when we come to it. Probably a separate region given how overlapping regions muck things up.

Shouldn't musm be a tier 1 system instead of tier 3

Absolutely not - don't let the name fool you, these aren't actually motorways as you or I would see them.

kena tier 4 instead of tier 3?

Maybe. They are billed as International Roads, and the system extends into Uganda because it's remnants of a system covering several modern countries

[neroute2]

Shouldn't musm be a tier 1 system instead of tier 3

Absolutely not - don't let the name fool you, these aren't actually motorways as you or I would see them.

They look to be up to at least Mexican toll road standards (north end of http://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?r=mexbc.mex001d for example), and in many parts British motorway standards (which allow roundabouts on lower-traffic routes).

[michih]

Shouldn't musm be a tier 1 system instead of tier 3

Absolutely not - don't let the name fool you, these aren't actually motorways as you or I would see them.

They look to be up to at least Mexican toll road standards (north end of http://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?r=mexbc.mex001d for example), and in many parts British motorway standards (which allow roundabouts on lower-traffic routes).

I don't know about Mexico - system was not touched since CHM times (2015 or even earlier) - but Si is right, musm is like a typical European tier 4 system. mkda comes to mind. British motorways (gbnm) have an higher standard - without(!) roundabouts. I've traveled 91% of the system so far (all one year ago) and can't remember that there is anything "sub standard". I think you mean dual carriageways which are all in gbna system - tier 4. gbnam is a special kind of A roads. I think that they do always have motorway standard too - I've only traveled 39%.

There are tier 1 systems containing routes w/o motorway standard though. Simple 2-laned routes like huge segments of Swiss A13 or German A60, A62 and A64. They are dedicated being "A" routes but the segment itself is not motorway. A similar situation is Spanish  A6. I've recently mentioned it:

A6:
Shouldn't it be extended to the east? A6 is indicated on (some) km posts and it's even more "freeway" than Swiss A13 for instance. I think A1 is also quite substandard north of Madrid with bus stop and access to properties

[si404]

Shouldn't musm be a tier 1 system instead of tier 3

Absolutely not - don't let the name fool you, these aren't actually motorways as you or I would see them.

They look to be up to at least Mexican toll road standards (north end of http://travelmapping.net/hb/index.php?r=mexbc.mex001d for example), and in many parts British motorway standards (which allow roundabouts on lower-traffic routes).

fair point. However
1) that Mexican road doesn't seem that bad - no median crossings or anything like that.

2) British motorway standards don't allow for roundabouts. Motorway status, however, has no minimum standards, and so, you are right, there are a couple of nonterminal roundabouts (and the idea that the M271 is lightly trafficked is untrue. It got a roundabout in the middle of it for every reason but low traffic - demolitions, cost, apathy towards building a more complex interchange), and a couple of bits of undivided mainline.

British motorways (gbnm) have an higher standard - without(!) roundabouts. I've traveled 91% of the system so far (all one year ago) and can't remember that there is anything "sub standard".

your memory errs a little. Given we're talking roundabouts, then there's a fair few (but most are off mainlines, and most that are on them are terminating ones (especially of short spurs) rather than in the middle) with motorway status/under motorway regs. And various bits of single carriageway (mostly sliproads).

There are tier 1 systems containing routes w/o motorway standard though.

very true. But this is much more the other way around - a system that mostly isn't motorway standard.

The M3 has just one grade separation, but a load of roundabouts on the mainline. The M2 is worse - again just one grade-seperation, but as well as roundabouts theres also signallised crossroads. The M1 is a bit better, but still has more length substandard than not.

I'd be willing to change the tier to 1 or 2 if there's regulations akin to those in Europe marked with chopsticks or happy car signs.

[michih]

British motorways (gbnm) have an higher standard - without(!) roundabouts. I've traveled 91% of the system so far (all one year ago) and can't remember that there is anything "sub standard".

your memory errs a little. Given we're talking roundabouts, then there's a fair few (but most are off mainlines, and most that are on them are terminating ones (especially of short spurs) rather than in the middle) with motorway status/under motorway regs. And various bits of single carriageway (mostly sliproads).

I was talking about mainlines. Roundabounts at motorway ends do not belong to the motorway itself. And roundabouts at motorway interchanges do also exist in other (European) countries like Spain or the Netherlands. Just out of curiosity, which British motorway (M, not A(M) has a roundabout on the main carriageway?

There are tier 1 systems containing routes w/o motorway standard though.

very true. But this is much more the other way around - a system that mostly isn't motorway standard.

Sure. For that reason, it's fine to me that musm is tier 3.

I'd be willing to change the tier to 1 or 2 if there's regulations akin to those in Europe marked with chopsticks or happy car signs.

Rather tier 2 than tier 1. It's really not tier 1. I think that musm is similar to auts, belb, luxb or prtip which are tier 2 in Europe.

[si404]

M271 has a roundabout in the middle, at the M27 junction (M27 goes underneath). M58 arguably has two, but that depends how you treat both the interchange with the M6, and the short single carriageway link to the A577. M4 Heathrow spur (especially if it got its own number, per original plans) would also count. For completeness, A601(M) and A627(M) have roundabouts in the middle of them. As does the M60 where it TOTSOs. Arguably the M12 in Northern Ireland (though arguable as whether that counts as British, and also if it's a terminal).

But as I said, most roundabout under motorway restrictions are at the ends of motorways (M32, M49, M50, M180, A8(M), A308(M)/A404(M), and spurs of the M3, M23 and M25), or at 4+-way motorway-motorway intersections that have 3 levels (M1/M62, M60/M62/M66, M8/M73/A8(M), M6/M61, M18/A1(M)).

The French A660 is, I believe, the worst offender (though none of the roundabouts are part of it - the autoroute ends just before each one, then restarts!) in the browser as tier-1.

But this is all a tangent...

[michih]

British motorways (gbnm) have an higher standard - without(!) roundabouts. I've traveled 91% of the system so far (all one year ago) and can't remember that there is anything "sub standard".

your memory errs a little.

M271
M58
M4 Heathrow spur
A601(M)
A627(M) have roundabouts in the middle of them.

I've checked all and I didn't traveled any of these 

As does the M60 where it TOTSOs.

I would not count this as the mainline of a motorway. As you write, it's a TOTSO.

Arguably the M12 in Northern Ireland (though arguable as whether that counts as British, and also if it's a terminal).

nirm is a different system

But it's really OT now