Route nationale 5
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The Route nationale 5, or RN5, is a trunk road (nationale) in France now connecting Dijon with the frontier of Switzerland. It is also numbered the European route 21.
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[edit] Reclassification
The RN5 originally ran to Paris following the route now numbered RN6 to Sens. Thereafter the road has been downgraded and numbered the D905. Of all the national main roads, the RN5 is one of those (with the RN16) which suffered the most from the re-numbering since 1970. Indeed until 1978, the road still connected Paris with Switzerland. It even included an alternative route, RN5bis (today RN 105, but renumbered RD 605 since 2007) between Melun and Montereau in order to avoid lorries passing through Moret-sur-Loing. The wave of renumberings in 2006 reduced the length of the road further, which now only comprises as RN 5 a few kilometers in the Jura! The section between Sens and Dijon was very attractive passing through many villages: those travelling to Dijon regularly preferred the 3 lane RN6 until Avallon to the RN70. The construction of the A6 autoroute and particularly the A38 marked the death-blow for the central section of the road which was finally re-numbered the the D905 in 1978. In order to ensure cohesion, the Paris section to Sens was re-numbered the RN6, but many inhabitants of Melun or Fontainebleau rarely use the combined RN5 and RN6. Nowadays, the only section of the road maintained in the national network after the downgradings of 2006 is between Poligny and Rousses.
[edit] Route
Sens-Dijon-Dole-Geneva-Thonon-Switzerland
[edit] Sens to Dijon (0km - 199km) (as D905)
The road branches east from Sens as the N60 along the Vanne valley. After 8 km the D905 turns south east over rolling wooded countryside. The TGV line runs parallel. The road crosses the ridge of the Forêt D'Othe. The road crosses the River Armançon at Saint Florentin with a junction with the RN77. The road continues Southeast along the valley of the Armançon passing to the south bank at Tonerre. The road continues through the Bois de la Ville evenually leaving the valley at Montbard and the nearby Abbaye de Fontenay.
The road now follows the River Brenne and the Canal de Bourgone. The road passes the Parc l'Auxols to Vitteaux and then below the Foret de Boutas et Charmot (542m) and then along the northern shore of the Reservoir de Grosbois and then east passing over a ridge at Somberton where the road meets Somberton and the A38. The road now enters the valley of the River Duche Eastward through the Forêt de Plombières and becomes the RN5 as the road enters Dijon.
[edit] Dijon to Geneva (Switzerland) (199 km to 386 km)
The RN5 now forms part of a ring road around the south of the city heading Southeast as the Rue d'Auxonne and then the Avenue du Mont Blanc, through traffic takes the A38. The road's old course passes through Neuilly-lès_Dijon and Crimolois before it branches South from the motorway. The road then crosses the A31.
The road crosses open countryside past Genlis and over the A39 skirting the Bois de Mondragon. The road crosses the River Saône at Auxonne and goes through the Bois des Crochères. Before Dole the road crosses the A36. The RN5 bypasses the town to the West while the old road is now classed the D405 past the Forêt de Chaux.
The road follows a wooded ridge between two river valleys. The next town is Poligny. The road leaves to the Southeast up the Culée de Vaux into the Foret de Poligny (575m). The countryside is then formed by ridges which rise to become the Jura mountains. The road heads through Champagnole overlooked bt Mont Fival (805m). The road goes South along the Gorges de la Billaude to Saint Laurent-en-Grandvaux.
There the road heads east over the Col de la Savine (984m) in the Crête de la Joux Devant(1,094m). The road drops into the next valley and the towns of Morbier and Morez. The road rises over the Crête des Sauges into Les Rousses alongside the Swiss boarder with a road heading over the Col de la Givrine (1228m).
The RN5 heads along the Chaine du Jura to the Southwest in the Valmijoux before crossing the mountaind towards Switzerland at the Col de la Faucille (1320m). The road heading Southeast passes through Gex and enters Switzerland at Ferney-Voltaire and Geneva Airport.
[edit] Geneva (Switzerland) to Switzerland via Thonon (386 km to 436 km)
The RN5 commences again north east of the city of Geneva on the southern shores of Lake Geneva. The road passes through the town of Douvaine, before reaching the shores of the lake at the village of Sciez. The road then enters the town of Thonon-Les-Bains.
After Thonon the road crosses the River Dranse, and enters Amphlon-les-Bains and then the town of Évian-Les-Bains. The road now hugs the shores of the lake as the mountains climb steeply to the south with Mt Bénant. The road then passes the village of Meillere and the town of St Gingolph where the road reaches the frontier with 
Switzerland becoming the route 21 towards Martigny.
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