Editing Transport in Europe (section)

==Roads==
[[Image:Autostrada del Sole - Italy - panoramio.jpg|thumb|The [[European route E45]] near [[Cassino]], Italy]]

The [[International E-road network]] is a numbering system for [[road]]s in Europe developed by the [[United Nations Economic Commission for Europe]] (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches [[Central Asia]]n countries like [[Kyrgyzstan]], since they are members of the UNECE.

Main international traffic arteries in Europe are defined by ECE/TRANS/SC.1/2016/3/Rev.1 which consider three types of roads: [[motorway]]s, [[Limited-access road|limited access roads]], and ordinary roads.

In most countries, the roads carry the European route designation alongside national designations. [[Belgium]], [[Norway]] and [[Sweden]] have roads which only have the European route designations (examples: [[European route E18|E18]] and [[European route E6|E6]]). The United Kingdom, Albania and the Asian part of Russia only use national road designations and do not show the European designations at all. All route numbers in Andorra are unsigned. [[Denmark]] only uses the European designations on signage, but also has formal names for every motorway (or part of such), by which the motorways are referred to, for instance in news and weather forecasts. In Asia, Turkey and Russia show the European designations on signage; this is not the case in many other Asian countries.

Other continents have similar international road networks, e.g., the [[Pan-American Highway]] in the Americas, the [[Trans-African Highway network]], and the [[Asian Highway Network]].

UNECE was formed in 1947, and their first major act to improve transport was a joint UN declaration no. 1264, the Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ehu.es/ceinik/tratados/25TRATADOSDETRANSPORTEYCOMUNICACIONES/252Traficoporcarretera/TTC2527ING.pdf|title=Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries, signed at Geneva|work=United Nations - Treaty Series|date=16 September 1950|access-date=27 December 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812133003/http://www.ehu.es/ceinik/tratados/25TRATADOSDETRANSPORTEYCOMUNICACIONES/252Traficoporcarretera/TTC2527ING.pdf|archive-date=12 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://treaties.un.org/doc/treaties/1951/07/19510701%2000-06%20am/ch_xi_b_07p.pdf|title=Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries, signed at Geneva|work=United Nations - Treaty Series|date=16 September 1950|access-date=1 July 2012}}</ref> signed in Geneva on 16 September 1950, which defined the first E-road network. Originally it was envisaged that the E-road network would be a [[motorway]] system comparable to the US [[Interstate Highway System]].{{cn|date=October 2024}} The declaration was amended several times until 15 November 1975, when it was replaced by the European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries or "AGR",<ref name=1975doc>{{cite web|url=http://live.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/conventn/ECE-TRANS-SC1-384e.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131203219/http://live.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/trans/conventn/ECE-TRANS-SC1-384e.pdf |archive-date=2012-01-31 |url-status=live|title = European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries|publisher=United Nations Economic and Social Council|date=14 March 2008|access-date=27 December 2010}}</ref> which set up a route numbering system and improved standards for roads in the list. The AGR last went through a major change in 1992 and in 2001 was extended into [[Central Asia]] to include the [[Caucasus|Caucasus nations]].{{cn|date=October 2024}} There were several minor revisions since, last in 2008 ({{As of|2009|lc=y}}).