Brazilian Highway System - Nomenclature

Nomenclature

Brazilian Regional highways are named YY-XXX, where YY is the abbreviation of the state where the highway is running in and XXX is a number (e.g. SP-280; where SP means that the highway is under São Paulo state administration).

Brazilian National highways are named BR-XXX. National highways connect multiple states altogether, are of major importance to the national economy and/or connect Brazil to another country. The meaning of the numbers are:

• 000-099 - it means that the highway runs radially from Brasília. It is an exception to the cases below.
• 100-199 - it means that the highway runs in a south-north way
• 200-299 - it means that the highway runs in a west-east way
• 300-399 - it means that the highway runs in a diagonal way. Highways with odd numbers run northeast-southwest, while even numbers run northwest-southeast.
• 400-499 - it means that the highway interconnects two major highways.

Often Brazilian highways receive names (famous people, etc.), but continue to have a YY/BR-XXX name (example: Rodovia Castelo Branco is also SP-280.)

See highway system of São Paulo for numbering designation for São Paulo state roads, also used in some other states.