The Cairo–Dakar Highway is Trans-African Highway 1 in the transcontinental

Transcontinental

The fourth largest print media group in Canada, with more than 3,000 employees and annual revenues of $608 million in 2010, TC. Transcontinental reaches, through its multiplatform offering, over 18 million consumers across Canada...

 road

Road

A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...

 network being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

United Nations Economic Commission for Africa

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa was established in 1958 by the United Nations Economic and Social Council to encourage economic cooperation among its member states following a recommendation of the United Nations General Assembly.It is one of five regional commissions.The ECA...

 (UNECA), the African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

 (ADB), and the African Union

African Union

The African Union is a union consisting of 54 African states. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established on 9 July 2002, the AU was formed as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity...

. The major part of the highway between Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 and Nouakchott

Nouakchott

-Government:The town was first divided into districts in 1973. First it was divided into four. From 1986, the city has been split into nine districts.* Arafat* Dar Naim* El Mina* Ksar* Riad* Sebkha* Tevragh-Zeina* Teyarett* Toujounine...

 has been constructed under a project of the Arab Maghreb Union

Arab Maghreb Union

The Arab Maghreb Union is a trade agreement aiming for economic and some sort of future political unity in North Africa between the countries Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania...

.

The Cairo–Dakar Highway has a length of 8636 kilometres (5,366 mi) and runs along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

, continuing down the Atlantic coast of North-West Africa. It is substantially complete except for a few kilometres on the Morocco-Mauritania border where there is currently only a desert track. The Noudhibou-Nouakchott section was paved in 2005 :fr:Transport en Mauritanie. It joins with the Dakar-Lagos Highway to form a north-south route between Rabat

Rabat

Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...

 and Monrovia

Monrovia

Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Coast at Cape Mesurado, it lies geographically within Montserrado County, but is administered separately...

 across the Sahara

Sahara

The Sahara is the world's second largest desert, after Antarctica. At over , it covers most of Northern Africa, making it almost as large as Europe or the United States. The Sahara stretches from the Red Sea, including parts of the Mediterranean coasts, to the outskirts of the Atlantic Ocean...

 and around the western extremity of the continent.

Note that since 1994 the land border between Morocco and Algeria is closed completely, so the Cairo–Dakar Highway cannot be used in its entirety.

See also

• Trans-African Highway network
  Trans-African Highway network
  The Trans-African Highway network comprises transcontinental road projects in Africa being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa , the African Development Bank , and the African Union in conjunction with regional international communities...
  
  
• Trans–West African Coastal Highway