National routes in South Africa

National routes are defined and numbered by the Route Numbering and Road Traffic Signs Sub Committee within the Roads Co-ordinating Body, an organisation which contains representatives from road authorities in national, provincial and local government. The term "national road" is frequently used to refer to a national route, but technically a "national road" is any road maintained by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) and need not necessarily form part of a national route, and there are "R" routes that are proclaimed National Roads. ==Table of routes==

National Routes are denoted with the letter N followed by a number indicating the specific route. On maps and some signage, national routes are shown by a pentagon with the number of the road inside. There are fifteen declared national routes, which are listed below. == Earlier scheme ==

An earlier scheme, deviating considerably from the current numbering, is described in the 1970 Shell Road Atlas of South Africa and other contemporaneous sources: • N1 - equivalent to the current N9 from George to Colesberg, and then the current N1 from there to Beitbridge (with deviations as some newer parts had yet to be built) • N2 - equivalent to the section of the current N2 from Cape Town to Durban • N3 - equivalent to the current N3 from Durban to Ladysmith, then following the current N11 to Volksrust, and the current R23 from there to Heidelberg, and then continuing equivalent to the N3 until its end in Johannesburg • N4 - equivalent to the section of the current N4 from Pretoria to Komatipoort • N5 - equivalent to the current N5 but from Winburg past Harrismith to Ladysmith (the latter part now signed as the N3) • N6 - equivalent to the current N6, except that it begins from King William's Town, the section from there to Stutterheim now being the R346, and ending in Reddersburg. • N7 - equivalent to the section of the current N10 from Ncanaha to just past Middelburg • N8 - equivalent to the section of the current R64 from Kimberley to Bloemfontein • N9 - equivalent to the section of the current N1 from Cape Town to Colesberg • N10 - equivalent to the section of the current R56 between Kokstad and Pietermaritzburg • N11 - equivalent to the current N7 from Cape Town to the Namibia border • N12 - equivalent to the section of the current N12 from George to Beaufort West • N13 - equivalent to the section of the current N12 from Three Sisters to Johannesburg • N14 - equivalent to the section of the current N2 from Durban to Eswatini • N15 - equivalent to the section of the current R75 from Port Elizabeth to Uitenhage • N16 - equivalent to the section of the current N3 between Heidelberg and Harrismith • N17 - equivalent to the section of the current N10 between Noupoort and Namibia • N18 - equivalent to the section of the current R61 from Queenstown to Port St. Johns • N19 - equivalent to the section of the current R56 from south of Jamestown to Kokstad == See also ==