By the end of 2008, almost all the 8,000 kilometre posts on Lower Saxony's Landesstraßen had been replaced. Properties In terms of their construction, Landesstraßen tend to be built to a lesser standard than Bundesstraßen and their cross-section is generally smaller. In individual cases, however, the standard of construction may vary depending on when it was built and its importance as a route. However, Landesstraßen can be built as limited-access dual carriageways in densely populated areas. Due to the division of funding, the federal states usually try to get the more substantial Landesstraßen officially designated as Bundesstraßen, so that their subsequent improvement and maintenance is funded from the Federal budget. The Bundesstraßen are, however, intended as links between cities (major centres) and radiate from them. It is not usually possible to have concentric roads, which link the satellite towns with one another, designated as Bundesstraßen. Similarly, it is difficult to transfer responsibility for the short stub roads running from cities to nearby motorways to the Federal Authorities. Situation in the new federal states Following German reunification the Bezirksstraßen of the GDR (also called Category 1 Landstraßen) were generally classified as Landesstraßen without consideration for their condition. This leads to a wide range of road types falling within this category. On the one hand, there are inter-city roads which have been modernised to a good quality standard. On the other hand, due to the austere design of the country road network in the GDR (e. g. occasionally one of two parallel roads or, where they were of low traffic importance, the links between them were simply allowed to fall into disrepair) there are today in the new federal states several unpaved roads and dirt tracks that are formally Landesstraßen (e. g. the L 208 between Burkersroda and Balgstädt in Saxony-Anhalt or the L 1062 between Wittersroda and Lengefeld in Thuringia). The upgrade of these roads is unlikely in view of the lack of funding and their low importance; in most cases attempts are being made to have their status downgraded. Situation in Austria In Austria today all important roads, apart from autobahns and Schnellstraßen (limited-access roads) managed by the publicly owned ASFiNAG corporation, are called Landesstraßen. Since 2002, even the former Bundesstraßen national highways are Landesstraßen, because they were placed under the responsibility of the federal states. Before 2002 there were two types of Bundesstraße: A white number on a blue