Belarus | Area code 375 | Common abbreviation BY | Last updated 16-9-2007 | |||
| Road class | Syntax explanation | Administrative subordination | Sub classes | Zones | System | Remarks |
| European road | E[0-9]<2-3> | Europe | See Europe | |||
| Main road (Magistral) | M[0-9]<1-2> | national | spider-web | Highest number M12 | ||
| Regional road | R[0-9]<1-3> | national | 1-/2-d | |||
| 3-d | ||||||
| Local road | N[0-9]<4> | national | ||||
| General description:
The M1 is the main east-west route, which had the same number in the old Soviet system. Other main roads from Minsk are the M2 to the airport, the M3 to Vicebsk, the M4 to Mahilėv, the M5 to Homel', the M6 to Hrodna, and the M7 to Vilnius.
The M9 is the ring around Minsk.
Regional roads: The 'R' is denoted as 'P' in cyrillic. Some R roads are quite important (e.g. the former M14 is now the R17). Initially there were even more important roads that had R numbers, like the R28 linking Minsk and Vilnius. These have been changed recently, see History below. The highest known number is R149. Local roads: The 'N' is denoted as 'H' in cyrillic. No further information available. | ||||||
| Road signs: Old Soviet signs are green with white text on motorways and blue with white text on other roads (no other information available). | ||||||
| History:
In the 1990's the Soviet system was changed to the current system. See also Russia.
Some numbers in the new system have been changed again since 2000: | ||||||
| Old | New | Section | Remarks | |||
| M7 | R23 | Minsk-Mikasevicy | Not very important road: R number is more appropriate than M number | |||
| M9 | R28 | Minsk-Narac | Not very important road: R number is more appropriate than M number | |||
| R1 | M9 | Minsk ring road | Important road: M number is more appropriate than R number | |||
| R17 | M12 | Brest-Kovel (Ukraine) | A 15 km section to the border was changed to M12 around 2004, the R17 was rerouted along the former R98 to Malaryta | |||
| R28 | M7 | Valozyn-Lithuania | Very important road: R number is more appropriate than M number | |||
| R40 | M11 | M1-Slonim-Lida-Lithuania | Important road: R number is more appropriate than M number | |||
| R52 | R1 | Minsk-M1 (west) | Old R1 changed to M9 | |||
| R98 | M12/R17 | Kobryn-Malaryta | The new M12 goes from Kobryn to the Ukrainian border (to Kovel), the southern half of the R98 was renumbered R17 around 2004. An R number was inappropriate for a first class E road (E85). | |||
Sources and links: various maps and atlases
Official sites: | ||||||