D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

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Goosey
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Re: D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

Post by Goosey »

There will only be undulating roads if you're in an undulating part of France, surely? You won't get much undulation in Les Landes for example.
pq
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Re: D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

Post by pq »

I haven't read the thread, so maybe this has been covered. However I live in France so I know a thing or two about the roads here. It's a common misconception that the term D refers to what sort of road it is - but in fact it refers to who maintains it which is a very French way of doing things. So a D road can be little more than a farm track or a 4 lane highway - or anything in between. There's also been a program of re-numbering N roads to D - becasue the responsibility for maintenance has been changed, not the road itself. It means that nearly all roads in France are now D, so it tells you even less than it used to.

So for the cyclist, you need to look a little deeper. Main roads with D designations are red on most maps - and are best avoided. Similarly, roads which are straight and go between 2 towns aren't going to be great, and some maps imply how busy a road will be by the width of the line they use. Conversely a very twisty road which doesn't link two well populated places is probably great to cycle on.

So D roads? Yay AND Nay.
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Audax67
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Re: D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

Post by Audax67 »

pq wrote: 23 May 2022, 1:15pm I haven't read the thread, so maybe this has been covered. However I live in France so I know a thing or two about the roads here. It's a common misconception that the term D refers to what sort of road it is - but in fact it refers to who maintains it which is a very French way of doing things. So a D road can be little more than a farm track or a 4 lane highway - or anything in between. There's also been a program of re-numbering N roads to D - becasue the responsibility for maintenance has been changed, not the road itself. It means that nearly all roads in France are now D, so it tells you even less than it used to.

So for the cyclist, you need to look a little deeper. Main roads with D designations are red on most maps - and are best avoided. Similarly, roads which are straight and go between 2 towns aren't going to be great, and some maps imply how busy a road will be by the width of the line they use. Conversely a very twisty road which doesn't link two well populated places is probably great to cycle on.

So D roads? Yay AND Nay.
A very Sarko way of doing things: IIRC when he was prez there was a lot of bellyaching from the départements about everything being too central, so he said OK, you can look after (and pay for) your own roads, suck it up.
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pq
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Re: D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

Post by pq »

Well not really. Sarkozy may have started the renumbering from N to D, but what's French about this is that the road numbering system is for the benefit of civil servants and not road users. My French friends find it hilarious - it had never occurred to them how French it is, but when I point it out to them they agree.
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jacobean
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Re: D-Roads in France - yay or nay?

Post by jacobean »

Thank you for those amazing responses.

Just an update on the ground here in France (Loire Valley).

I was on two "D" roads yesterday. One was a country road with maybe a handful of cars passing all day. The other D road felt and looked like a motorway (heavy traffic and motorway-style barriers segregating lanes and exit/entry ramps).

So, yes the prefix of the road number does not tell you a lot.
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