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Britain has a long history, and has many ancient roads and trackways dating back to the Roman occupation and before, including the world's oldest engineered road yet discovered, the Sweet Track dating from the 3800s BC.
With the advent of the car and the huge expansion in the numbers and standards of roads, as well as the introduction of a national Highway Code, a coherent numbering scheme was developed, which is still in use today.
The road numbering system in England and Wales is based on a radial pattern centered on London. Scotland has an extension of the scheme based on Edinburgh. Other parts of UK territory such as Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands have their own numbering series which is separate from that of the island of Great Britain itself, but both the basic conventions and the design of the road signs are identical.
Main trunk roads from London have single digit numbers, starting with the A1 which heads due north. The numbering continues sequentially in a clockwise direction, thus:
Similarly, in Scotland, main trunk roads radiating from Edinburgh have single digit numbers, thus:
These radials are supplemented by two-digit codes which are routes that are slightly less important (but may still be classified as trunk routes). These routes are not all centred on London, but as far as possible follow the general principle that their number locates them radially clockwise from the associated single digit route. For example, the A10 (London to King's Lynn) is the first main route clockwise from the A1, the A11 is the next, and so on:
The system continues to three and four digit numbers which further split and criss-cross the radials. Lower numbers originate closer to London than higher numbered ones. Knowing the number of the road you are on will give you a rough idea of where you are geographically once the system is understood. Below is a rough guide to the numbering series which apply to the various areas of the Great British mainland:
Some of the most important 3-digit A-Roads are:
Some sections of A roads have been improved to the same level as motorways, while usually remaing dual carriageways. These sections retain the"A" road designation, but are suffixed (M).
Some examples are:
"B" roads are routes which have lower traffic densities than "A" roads. The classification has nothing to do with the width or quality of the physical road. B roads follow the same numbering scheme as A roads, but almost always have 3- and 4- digit designations. Most 3-digit B-roads are former A-roads which have been downgraded due to new road construction.
Roads and lanes with yet lower traffic densities are designated 'C' and 'D' roads, but while these are numbered, in general this is done purely for the benefit of the local authorities, etc. who are responsible for maintaining them, and the numbering is arbitrary and does not, or should not, appear on any public signage. Some exceptions to this are known, however.
Motorways came to Britain much later than the established routes and the numbering system was already in place.
Therefore the motorways are designated "M" roads and are numbered to match the existing main radials which the motorways in general follow. One exception is the M5 whose closest A-road equivalent is the A38. The numbering of two digit motorways is based on a zone system formed by the 1-digit motorways, not on the zone system formed by the 1-digit A-roads. The other exception is the M6 Toll a recently opened toll motorway which bypasses the busiest section of the M6 around Wolverhampton and Birmingham.
Some ancient routes, such as Roman roads, travel for great distances and have a single modern number for the majority of their length (e.g. the A5 for the Roman road Watling Street). Others, such as the pre-Roman Icknield Way and the Roman Fosse Way are nowadays rather patchy and where a modern road exists, are numbered according to the local scheme.
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