The Route nationale 31 is a motorway in northern

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. It connects the town of

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

, it is also the European Route 46.

Route

The road starts in the City of

, the road starts heading east. The road heads through the ''Forêt de Lyons'' passing the ''Hêtre de la Bunodière''. The road then passes the town of

Gournay-en-Bray Gournay-en-Bray (, before 1962: ''Gournay'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-Maritime Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in north-western France. Geography A ...

. The road crosses the

Pays de Bray The Pays de Bray (, literally ''Land of Bray'') is a small (about 750 km2) natural region of France situated to the north-east of Rouen, straddling the French departments of the Seine-Maritime and the Oise (historically divided among the Pr ...

then by-pass the town of

Beauvais Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris. The Communes of France, commune o ...

. The old N 31 (now D 931) skirts the Forêt du Parc Saint-Quentin before entering Beauvais. In the town it crosses the

N 1 N1, N.I, N-1, N=1, or N01 may refer to: Information technology * Nokia N1, an Android tablet * Nexus One, an Android phone made by HTC * Nylas N1, a desktop email client * Oppo N1, an Android phone * N1, a Sun Microsystems software brand now ...

(now numbered the D 1001). To the east of the town is a junction (15) with the A16 autoroute. To the east of Beauvais the N 31 has been upgraded to a dual-carriageway. The original route is now numbered the D 931. At Clermont the road has a junction with the N 16 (now numbered the D 1016 and D 916). After Catenay, the N 31 is single carriageway again. After 15 km the road crosses the N 17 (now numbered the D 1017) and then has a junction (10) with the

A1 autoroute The A1 Autoroutes of France, Autoroute, also autoroutes autoroute du Nord (the Northern Motorway), is the busiest of France's autoroutes and is part of an environmental zones.(See below) With a length of , it connects Paris with the northern c ...

. the road then enters the town of

Compiègne Compiègne (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department of northern France. It is located on the river Oise (river), Oise, and its inhabitants are called ''Compiégnois'' (). Administration Compiègne is t ...

. The road leaves the town to the north east through the '' Forêt de Compiègne'' along the banks of the river

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; ) is a French departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne (river), Aisne. In 2020, it had a population of 529,374. Geography The department borders No ...

. At

Soissons Soissons () is a commune in the northern French department of Aisne, in the region of Hauts-de-France. Located on the river Aisne, about northeast of Paris, it is one of the most ancient towns of France, and is probably the ancient capital ...

the road crosses the N 2. The road continues to follow the Aisne and then the river

Vesle The Vesle () is the river on which the city of Reims stands. It is a fourth order river of France and a left-bank tributary of the Aisne. It is long, and rises in the ''département'' of Marne through which it flows for most of its course. Geog ...

to the south east. It passes through the town of

Fismes Fismes () is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The commune has been awarded three flowers in the ''Concours des villes et villages fl ...

. The road enters the town of

at junction (22) of the

A4 autoroute The A4 Autoroute, also known as autoroute de l'Est (), is a French ''Controlled-access highway, autoroute'' that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes European route E17, E17, European route E25, ...

. The road originally continued further east merged with the N 44 (now D 944) and after 5 km splitting to the east. The road is now numbered the D 931. It passes through

Suippes Suippes () is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. It was part of the so-called ''la Champagne pouilleuse'', a region battered by conflict during World War I. In the early months of the war, British soldiers were deployed ...

where it once met the N 77 (now D 977). Much of the surrounding countryside is reserved for military purposes. The road finally ends in Valmy, west of

Sainte-Menehould Sainte-Menehould (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Marne (department), Marne Departments of France, department in north-eastern France. The 18th-century French playwright Charles-Georges Fenouillot de Falbaire de Quingey (1727–1800) ...

joining the N 3. 031 {{france-road-stub