ravenbluemoon wrote: ↑Mon Mar 11, 2019 20:52Sweden uses E numbers over their (unprefixed) Riksväg numbering system, though they kind of cocked up the renumbering efforts in the 70s(?)
Proposed 1974, finalised 1975, meant to be enacted 1983, and then majorly revised across Europe in 1985. Finally agreed by Norway and Sweden with the E04/E55 and E06/E47 changed in 1990, with implementation in Scandinavia ocurring in 1992.
And while we're on this - I don't know why Belgium just rolled over with the idea that the old system E40 (OK, a branch/link number) should become E411 - it could have easily been an extension of the E21 (or E23). Given they use E numbers as the public-facing numbers, and the A4 is a major route that can clearly be justified as a Class A E Road, it seems odd to have a 3-digit number for it (obviously there's the issues of A2=E314, A13=E313, A8=E429, etc, but the A4=E411 is the one that sticks out as especially odd).
----
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 12, 2019 12:32Blue signs are used everywhere else. Literally. Even plates underneath warning and regulatory signs are blue. Da-ba-dee-da-ba-die.
Worst signage in Europe, hands down (maybe their little neighbours to the SE beat them? most of their signs are Belgian standard but some are French and others German, leading to inconsistency, but higher average quality!). Arguably the most surprising thing with this thread is that it wasn't a more general point about difficulty navigating following Belgian signage.
----
Peter350 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 13, 2019 14:26The A11 appears to be another oddity, as its two discontinuous sections travel in completely different directions.
The A11 is continuous. They finished all the signage along the former N49 in October last year (
source): 9 months after the main bulk of the long-running project upgrade it to motorway standards was approved, but years before it will be finished! And just over 13 months after the 'western section' opened (as the first new bit of motorway in Belgium since the year 2000).
For a direct Antwerp - Ostend/points west corridor, it would have been better to build a direct route between the N49 near Maldgelm and the A10/E40 near Jabbeke
The plan for this version of the A11 was never about Antwerp-West, but about connecting Knokke-Heist and area to elsewhere. Antwerp to West would gain little from such a route south of Bruges as it would only cut about 4km (or about 4% if you want) off vs going via Gent. The
previous plan, before the mid-80s, was also for connecting Knokke-Heist and area to elsewhere - but would have run Brussels-Jabbeke. Funnily enough, the bit in common with the plan that happened is the bit west of Zelzate that is the new bit of A11.
The paper-only
E404's description of 'Jabekke-Zeebrugge' would have used the unbuilt
A301 - which was assigned to 'Jabbeke-Blauwe Toren'. Blauwe Toren is the site of the A11/E403 junction - suggesting that the A11 ended there in the mid-90s plans.
