Wikipedia
Reichsstraße is German and literally means "imperial road". It may refer to:
- Imperial road, or Reichsstraße, a major European route in medieval times that was under the imperial or royal ban
- Reichsstraße (Austria), the most important road class in the imperial and royal (k.u.k.) state of Austria until 1918
- Reichsstraße (Deutsches Reich), the second most important road class in the German Empire from 1934 (after the motorways or autobahnen)
- Road names in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, some of which recall historic Reichsstraßen
The term Reichsstraße ("imperial road") was introduced in 1934 into Nazi Germany in place of the hitherto existing class of Fernverkehrsstraße ("trunk road") or FVS. On 17 January 1932, to improve road navigation in the Third Reich, the most important long distance routes (Fernverkehrsstraßen) were numbered. From 1934, when the so-called FVS were renamed as '' Reichsstraßen, they were marked with yellow signs bearing their respective number in black. After the imperial motorways ( Reichsautobahnen'') the Reichsstraßen were the most important class of road within the jurisdiction of Nazi Germany.
The Reichsstraße routes and numbering systems were largely adopted for the Bundesstraßen ("federal roads") in the Federal Republic of Germany and the Fernverkehrsstraßen ("trunk roads") in the GDR.
A Reichsstraße (literally "imperial road") was the official designation from 1804 to 1918 of trunk roads in Old Austria maintained by the (from 1867 Cisleithanian) State ( k.k. Ministry) – in contrast to the state roads ( Landesstraße) maintained by the individual crown lands and the municipal roads ( Gemeindestraßen) maintained by the parishes or municipalities (Gemeinden).