Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System

The Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System (Chinese: 香港主要幹線及出口編號系統) is a system adopted by the Transport Department of the Hong Kong Government to organise the major roads in the territory into routes 1 to 10 for the convenience of drivers.

When the system was implemented in 2004, the government promoted it with a major public campaign, including the slogan "Remember the Numbers; Make Driving Easier" (Chinese: 認路記號碼,唔使路路查).

The route numbers are displayed as black on yellow "road-shields" on overhead road signs.

The shoulder is reserved for stops due to breakdowns and emergencies, and motorists are prohibited by law from travelling on it.

They connect Hong Kong Island, metro Kowloon and the New Territories via a series of flyovers and tunnels.

Route 8 provides direct access to Chek Lap Kok Airport, and was extended to Sha Tin in 2008.

On every route, exits are numbered from one end to the other with ascending consecutive integers with a mixture of alphabet-suffixed labels (1, 2, 2A, 2B, 3, 4...

The first generation of the route number system in Hong Kong was envisaged in the 1968 Hong Kong Long Term Road Study by Freeman, Fox, Wilbur Smith & Associates, in which trunk routes were given single-digit numbers, and distributors with double-digit ones.

Also included in the road study was an unnumbered Western Harbour Crossing (WHC), which in the plan involved a bridge crossing the Victoria Harbour between Cherry Street in Mong Kok and Kennedy Town, by way of Stonecutters Island and Green Island.

The "Exit 2" and "Route 5" signs at the entrance of Kai Tak Tunnel