L roads (Landesstraße for Bundesland; in Saxony S and Bavaria St for Staatsstraße), K roads (Kreisstraße for districts, in some states of Germany K roads are classified as Landesstraßen 2. Ordnung and also carry an L number). Formerly, B roads were also designated as F for Fernstraße (long-distance road) in East Germany until 1990 and as R for Reichsstraße (imperial road) in the Weimar republic and Nazi-Germany until the Second World War. A roads use white numbers on blue shields, B and R roads black numbers on yellow shields and L, K and St roads – if designated – black numbers on white shields. The respective letters are normally not included in the shield. Autobahns In Germany, the normal route number for the German autobahns consists of the letter A and a number: 1-digit-numbers are the most important autobahns; 2- and 3-digit numbers are for connectors of 1-digit-number-autobahns; and north–south routes have odd numbers, and east–west routes have even numbers. Bundesstraßen Bundesstraßen are national highways, their numbers consist of the letter B and a number: 1-digit numbers are more important than 2- or 3-digit numbers; the first ten roads span the entire country, the 2-digit roads were assigned sequentially in clusters connecting the major regions, and the 3-digit roads are usually shorter connector roads. short branches of Bundesstraßen are sometimes signed with the letter "a" (e.g. B 27a); and rerouted Bundesstraßen may be given numbers with an appended "n" (e.g. B 7n). West Berlin once had its own Bundesstraßen with letters. State roads State roads are roads operated by the German federal states. They are called Landesstrasse or Staatsstrasse (in Saxony and Bavaria). They are labeled by an initial L or S and a one- to four-digit individual number (e.g. S2 or L240). The federal states sustain their own numbering systems with individual styles of number shields used. Gallery Elsewhere Some countries, such as Brazil, number their national highways by direction. (BR1xx = North/South highways, BR2xx = East/West, BR3xx = 'Diagonal' (i.e. NW/SE or NE/SW)). Cyprus A, B, E, F system A stands for motorway and B is for main roads. E and F are for smaller local roads. Estonian T system T is the prefix for all roads, however not represented on route shields. The prefix is mostly only used by the Estonian Road Administration and is not in common usage when referring to roads. French A, N, D