diff --git a/zebra/rib.h b/zebra/rib.h
index 9b1ce23b08..4cc69377d8 100644
--- a/zebra/rib.h
+++ b/zebra/rib.h
@@ -45,9 +45,6 @@ struct route_entry {
 	/* Nexthop structure */
 	struct nexthop *nexthop;
 
-	/* Refrence count. */
-	unsigned long refcnt;
-
 	/* Tag */
 	route_tag_t tag;
 
diff --git a/zebra/rt_netlink.c b/zebra/rt_netlink.c
index c58a7aa2fa..f05025e630 100644
--- a/zebra/rt_netlink.c
+++ b/zebra/rt_netlink.c
@@ -491,17 +491,26 @@ static int netlink_route_change_read_unicast(struct sockaddr_nl *snl,
 			size_t sz = (afi == AFI_IP) ? 4 : 16;
 
 			memset(&nh, 0, sizeof(nh));
-			if (index && !gate)
-				nh.type = NEXTHOP_TYPE_IFINDEX;
-			else if (index && gate)
-				nh.type = (afi == AFI_IP)
-						  ? NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV4_IFINDEX
-						  : NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV6_IFINDEX;
-			else if (!index && gate)
-				nh.type = (afi == AFI_IP) ? NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV4
+			if (bh_type == BLACKHOLE_UNSPEC) {
+				if (index && !gate)
+					nh.type = NEXTHOP_TYPE_IFINDEX;
+				else if (index && gate)
+					nh.type =
+						(afi == AFI_IP)
+							? NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV4_IFINDEX
+							: NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV6_IFINDEX;
+				else if (!index && gate)
+					nh.type = (afi == AFI_IP)
+							  ? NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV4
 							  : NEXTHOP_TYPE_IPV6;
-			else
+				else {
+					nh.type = NEXTHOP_TYPE_BLACKHOLE;
+					nh.bh_type = BLACKHOLE_UNSPEC;
+				}
+			} else {
 				nh.type = NEXTHOP_TYPE_BLACKHOLE;
+				nh.bh_type = bh_type;
+			}
 			nh.ifindex = index;
 			if (gate)
 				memcpy(&nh.gate, gate, sz);
diff --git a/zebra/zebra_rib.c b/zebra/zebra_rib.c
index bcf21783ae..deb434bd35 100644
--- a/zebra/zebra_rib.c
+++ b/zebra/zebra_rib.c
@@ -2061,10 +2061,9 @@ void _route_entry_dump(const char *func, union prefixconstptr pp,
 		   is_srcdst ? prefix2str(src_pp, srcaddr, sizeof(srcaddr))
 			     : "",
 		   re->vrf_id);
-	zlog_debug(
-		"%s: refcnt == %lu, uptime == %lu, type == %u, instance == %d, table == %d",
-		func, re->refcnt, (unsigned long)re->uptime, re->type,
-		re->instance, re->table);
+	zlog_debug("%s: uptime == %lu, type == %u, instance == %d, table == %d",
+		   func, (unsigned long)re->uptime, re->type, re->instance,
+		   re->table);
 	zlog_debug(
 		"%s: metric == %u, mtu == %u, distance == %u, flags == %u, status == %u",
 		func, re->metric, re->mtu, re->distance, re->flags, re->status);
@@ -2335,12 +2334,6 @@ void rib_delete(afi_t afi, safi_t safi, vrf_id_t vrf_id, int type,
 		    && rtnh->type == NEXTHOP_TYPE_IFINDEX && nh) {
 			if (rtnh->ifindex != nh->ifindex)
 				continue;
-			if (re->refcnt) {
-				re->refcnt--;
-				route_unlock_node(rn);
-				route_unlock_node(rn);
-				return;
-			}
 			same = re;
 			break;
 		}
@@ -2476,13 +2469,16 @@ int rib_add(afi_t afi, safi_t safi, vrf_id_t vrf_id, int type, u_short instance,
 			break;
 		}
 		/* Duplicate system route comes in. */
-		else if ((rtnh = re->nexthop)
-			 && rtnh->type == NEXTHOP_TYPE_IFINDEX
-			 && rtnh->ifindex == nh->ifindex
-			 && !CHECK_FLAG(re->status, ROUTE_ENTRY_REMOVED)) {
-			re->refcnt++;
+		rtnh = re->nexthop;
+		if (nexthop_same_no_recurse(rtnh, nh))
 			return 0;
-		}
+		/*
+		 * Nexthop is different. Remove the old route unless it's
+		 * a link-local route.
+		 */
+		else if (afi != AFI_IP6
+			 || !IN6_IS_ADDR_LINKLOCAL(&p->u.prefix6))
+			same = re;
 	}
 
 	/* Allocate new re structure. */
diff --git a/zebra/zebra_vty.c b/zebra/zebra_vty.c
index 98ce985344..95ba19b1f6 100644
--- a/zebra/zebra_vty.c
+++ b/zebra/zebra_vty.c
@@ -402,8 +402,6 @@ static void vty_show_ip_route_detail(struct vty *vty, struct route_node *rn,
 		}
 		if (CHECK_FLAG(re->flags, ZEBRA_FLAG_SELECTED))
 			vty_out(vty, ", best");
-		if (re->refcnt)
-			vty_out(vty, ", refcnt %ld", re->refcnt);
 		vty_out(vty, "\n");
 
 		if (re->type == ZEBRA_ROUTE_RIP || re->type == ZEBRA_ROUTE_OSPF