A brief history of the French road network
Roads fit for an Emperor
Unfortunately, before the new network could really make its mark, the French Revolution took hold. Roads suffered from heavy usage by troops and a consequential lack of general upkeep, which led to Napoleon Boneparte deciding to take action. A roads revolution was just around the corner...
By establishing a new defined network, Napoleon hoped that it would help unify the French Empire, as well as assist with the rapid movement of troops throughout. Particular attention was paid to the routes heading east, especially to Italy, which were seen as particularly important from a political point of view.
So in 1811, a Decree was issued that created les routes impériales, the Imperial Routes. It was this that laid the foundations of the road network we see today.
These routes would be broken down into three categories according to importance:
| Category | Description | Width |
| I | 14 most important routes, radiating from Paris with the major cities of the Empire | 42 to 60 feet |
| II | 13 routes connecting Paris with smaller, but still important, provincial towns | 36 feet |
| III | 202 important regional routes | 30 feet |
The major national routes were as follows - some shared a common route at their ends, as denoted by (Paris):
| Classe I Routes | Classe II Routes | |||
| No. | Route | No. | Route | |
| 1 | Paris - Beauvais - Abbeville - Boulogne-sur-Mer - Calais | 15 | Paris - Rouen - Le Havre | |
| 2 | Paris - Maubeuge - Brussels - Antwerp - Amsterdam | 16 | (Paris) - Pontoise - Dieppee | |
| 3 | (Paris) - Soissons - Liège - Munster - Bremen - Hamburg | 17 | Paris - Sarcelles - Amiens - Dunkerque | |
| 4 | Paris - Verdun - Metz - Saarbrücken - Mainz | 18 | Paris - Cambrai - Douai - Lille - Oostende | |
| 5 | (Paris) - Châlons-sur-Marne - Nancy - Strasbourg | 19 | (Paris) - Breda - Arnheim - Zwolle - Groningue - Delfzijll | |
| 6 | Paris - Dijon - Geneva - Milan - Bologna - Rome - Naples | 20 | (Paris) - Liège - Aachen - Colognee | |
| 7 | (Paris) - Joigny - Auxerre - Lyon - Turin - Milan | 21 | (Paris) - Verdun - Longwy - Luxembourg - Trier - Koblenz | |
| 8 | Paris - Moulins - Lyon - Nice - Genova - Florence - Rome | 22 | Paris - Troyes - Vesoul - Belfort - Basel | |
| 9 | (Paris) - Aix-en-Provence - Marseille - Toulon | 23 | Paris - Orléans - Limoges - Toulouse - Puigcerdà | |
| 10 | (Paris) - Moulins - Clermont Ferrand - Perpignan | 24 | (Paris) - Limoges - Agen - Lourdes - Barègess | |
| 11 | Paris - Tours - Poitiers - Angoulême - Bordeaux - Bayonne | 25 | (Paris) - Mauze-sur-le-Mignon - La Rochellee | |
| 12 | (Paris) - Croutelle - Niort - Rochefort | 26 | (Paris) - Chartres - Angers - Nantes - Paimboeuf | |
| 13 | (Paris) - Trappes - Dreux - Alençon - Rennes - Brest | 27 | (Paris) - Rennes - Lorientt | |
| 14 | Paris - Evreux - Caen - Cherbourg | |||
Following the fall of the First French Empire in 1815, the Imperiales once again became Routes Royales, with the Class III routes becoming the new . However, Louis XVIII wanted to sustain what was seen as good work by Napoleon by continue the improvement of the road network. Such improvements meant that by 1848, it was possible to travel between Paris and Lyon within 36 hours, and from Paris to Bordeaux in two days.
The numbering of the Royales network was adjusted in 1824, to account for both the industrial revolution and because France was somewhat smaller than under the Empire - 46 Imperiales were now located wholly outside of France, whose borders were restored to those prior to 1792.
Six years later, it was decided to rename the Royales network into routes nationales, apart from those Class III routes which would become known as routes départementales. This core of the network would remain pretty much unchanged until the road reforms of 1972, apart from the period of the Second French Empire (1851 - 1870) when the nationales would once again be known as Imperiales.
|
The ever risk of threats to the
regime, the Nationales network
was strengthened in 1833 with the creation of the Route Stratégiques,
a group of 38 roads under the control of the military. These were
established by King Louis-Philippe in order to help move troops in the event
of civil unrest in the west. No uprising was ever forthcoming, so the
network was disbanded in 1862 with roads integrated into either Nationales or Départementales. |
Meanwhile, the State wasn't just interested in the national road network; they wanted to see improvements made to regional roads. A new category of routes locales was established - also in 1824 - which required the local municipalities to look after their roads under the control of the département prefects. Funding would come from local budgets, with taxpayers called upon to make up any shortfalls through either additional payments or other non-financial contributions.
Further refinement was carried out in 1836, when responsibility of the Routes Locales was divided into three sub-categories with responsibility split between local municipalities and the départements:
| Category | Description |
| Chemins de grand communication | Main local roads connecting several communities with nearby Class I, II and III roads. These roads were a priority for financing, with reponsibility shared between both départements and municipalities |
| Chemins d'intérêt commun | Less important local roads but those linking communities. Managed by municipalities but with some funding from départements. |
| Chemins ordinaires | Other small, rural lanes. Managed entirely by municipalities. |
However, this refinement meant that funding became very stretched, not helped by municipalities dodging their responsibilities. So départements handed back responsibility for roads under their remit, forcing parity between municipalities by ensuring they all paid their share of maintenance bills. Much of the work done in 1836 would be wiped out in as little as five years.
This collapse of the départementale network over the next few decades was also hastened by the State. Funding would stop being allocated per axis, but an annual budget would be allocated to each département to cover all roads within their jurisdiction. Believe it or not, there were even calls to reclassify the nationales as local roads as priority was given to the growing railway network. Thankfully, the State resisted those calls...
Route Nationales in 1848. Click
image to see full map.
The later part of the 19th Century was one of little development, the railways forcing roads to take a back seat. The ongoing issues with funding and maintenance meant that many roads became delapidated, something that only worsened with the outbreak of the First World War. But following the War, things were going to change for the better...
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Picture Credits
1848 map is public domain but provided courtesy of
gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France
