Route nationale

A route nationale, or simply nationale, is a class of trunk road in France. They are important roads of national significance which cross broad portions of the French territory, in contrast to departmental or communal roads which serve more limited local areas.

Point zéro (kilometre zero) on the parvis of Notre-Dame de Paris

Their use is free, except when crossing certain structures subject to a toll. They are open to all vehicles, except on certain sections having motorway (autoroute) or express road (voie express) status, both of these categories being reserved for motorized vehicles only.

France at one time had some 30,500 km of routes nationales and publicly owned motorways, but this figure has decreased with the transfer of the responsibility for many routes to the départements so that by 2010 the total length of motorways and other national roads was around 21,100 km. By way of comparison, routes départementales in the same year covered a total distance of 378,000 km.[1]

The layout of the main trunk road network reflects France's centralizing tradition: the majority of them radiate from Paris. The most important trunk roads begin on the parvis of Notre Dame de Paris at a point known as point zéro (kilometre zero). In order to cover the country effectively, there are many other roads that do not serve Paris directly.