Moroccan expressways
Encyclopedia
Road pricing
Road pricing is an economic concept regarding the various direct charges applied for the use of roads. The road charges includes fuel taxes, licence fees, parking taxes, tolls, and congestion charges, including those which may vary by time of day, by the specific road, or by the specific vehicle...
basis, with toll stations placed along its length. The general speed-limit is 120 km/h.
History
The first expressway in the country is the A3: Casablanca-RabatCasablanca-Rabat expressway
The Casablanca-Rabat expressway, designated A3, was the first expressway to be built in Morocco, with construction starting in the 1970s. It was only completed in 1986 after a 7 year halt....
. Construction of the first section started in 1975 but completion of this road between the economic and the administrative capital took 13 years. Originally usage of the road was free of charge. The toll-road system was later introduced as one measure to prevent lengthy construction times (as happened with this first road). Finding investors for new roads would be easier when these roads would generate their own revenue to repay investors.
Realized and planned
As of July 2011, ADM manages 1420 km of Morocco's toll roads .In 2006, it was announced that ADM will be investing 6.18 billion dirhams
Moroccan dirham
The dirham is the currency of Morocco. The plural form is pronounced darahim, although in French and English "dirhams" is commonly used. Its ISO 4217 code is "MAD". It is subdivided into 100 santimat . The dirham is issued by the Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank of Morocco...
($859 million) to develop its highway network in 2007.. These investment packages are part of the objective which aim to complete 1,500 km by 2012.
Completed roads
The main Moroccan expressways are:- A1 Rabat-Tanger (223 km)
- A2 Rabat-FesRabat-Fes expresswayThe Rabat-Fes expressway is an expressway in Morocco; its designated identity marker is A2. Total length is 206 km.The Rabat-Fes expressway consists of a four-lane expressway of the non motorway-sort before the toll station at Sidi Allal El Bahraoui. It takes its origin at the interchange with the...
(207 km) - A3 Casablanca-RabatCasablanca-Rabat expresswayThe Casablanca-Rabat expressway, designated A3, was the first expressway to be built in Morocco, with construction starting in the 1970s. It was only completed in 1986 after a 7 year halt....
(65 km) - A4 Tangier-TangerMed port (54 km)
- A5 Casablanca ring (34 km)
- A6 Tetouan-Fnideq (28 km)
- A7 Casablanca-Agadir via Marrakesh (453 km )
- A5 Casablanca-El Jadida (80 km)
- A9 Fes-OujdaFes-Oujda expresswayFes-Oujda Expressway is not an Expressway where it is free but a paying 'Motorway' linking Morocco-Algeria with Oujda-Rabat-Casablanca and Southern Morocco and came into operation on 25 July 2011....
length: 320 km avg.costs/km: 28 MDH
The separately developed stretches, used to create the main N-S and E-W links are:
| from | to | length in km. |
construction period |
avg costs M Million One million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106... DH Moroccan dirham The dirham is the currency of Morocco. The plural form is pronounced darahim, although in French and English "dirhams" is commonly used. Its ISO 4217 code is "MAD". It is subdivided into 100 santimat . The dirham is issued by the Bank Al-Maghrib, the central bank of Morocco... /km |
notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Casablanca Casablanca Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture... |
Rabat Rabat Rabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000... |
62 | forming the A3 motorway Casablanca-Rabat expressway The Casablanca-Rabat expressway, designated A3, was the first expressway to be built in Morocco, with construction starting in the 1970s. It was only completed in 1986 after a 7 year halt.... |
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| using: | Casablanca | Oued Cherrat | 33,5 | 1975–1978 | |||
| and: | Oued Cherrat | Rabat | 25,5 | 1983–1987 | |||
| Rabat | Larache Larache Larache is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.In 1471, the Portuguese settlers from Asilah and Tangier drove... |
150 | 13 | ||||
| using: | Rabat | Kénitra Kenitra Kenitra is a city in Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey. It is a port on the Sebou River, has a population in 2004 of 359,142 and is the capital of the Gharb-Chrarda-Béni Hssen region. During the Cold War Kenitra's U.S... |
40 | 1993–1995 | |||
| and: | Kénitra | Larache | 110 | 1993–1996 | |||
| Larache | Sidi El yamani | 28 | 1996–1999 | ||||
| Sidi El yamani | Asilah Asilah Asilah or Arzila is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, about 31 km from Tangier. Its ramparts and gateworks remain fully intact... |
15 | 2000–2002 | ||||
| Asilah | Tanger | 30 | 2002–2005 | ||||
| together forming the A1 Rabat-Tangier expressway | |||||||
| Rabat | Fès FES FES or Fes may refer to:* Fes or Fez, a city in Morocco* FES , a human gene that encodes the feline sarcoma oncogene enzyme* FES , a fictional singer from Chaos;Head anime series and alias of Yui Sakakibara for her songs from Chaos;Head and Steins;Gate anime series* Flywheel energy storage, an... |
167 | 14,4 | ||||
| using | Rabat | Khemiset | 66 | 1996–1999 | |||
| and | Fes | Khemiset | 116 | 1995–1998 | |||
| Casablanca | Settat Settat Settat is a city in Morocco between the national capital Rabat and Marrakech. Settat is located at the heart of the country, south of Casablanca. Settat is the capital of the prefecture of Chaouia-Ouardigha and Settat Province, the oldest and largest city in the province, in both size and population... |
57 | 1998–2001 | 17,5 | |||
| Casablanca bypass | 27 | 2000–2004 | 25 | built in 2 phases | |||
| Casablanca | El Jadida El Jadida El Jadida is a port city on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, in the province of El Jadida. It has a population of 144,440... |
85,5 | |||||
| using | Casablanca | Had Soualem | 16 | 2001–2004 | 18 | ||
| and | Had Soualem | Tnine Chtouka | 35 | 2002–2005 | 20 | ||
| and | Tnine Chtouka | El Jadida | 28 | 2004–2006 | 26 | ||
| Settat | Marrakech Marrakech Marrakech or Marrakesh , known as the "Ochre city", is the most important former imperial city in Morocco's history... |
162 | 2004–2007 | ||||
| Desserte du Port Tanger Med | 54 | 2004–2008 | 73 | ||||
| Tétouan Tétouan Tetouan is a city in northern Morocco. The Berber name means literally "the eyes" and figuratively "the water springs". Tetouan is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea. It lies a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about 40 mi E.S.E. of Tangier... |
Fnideq Fnideq Fnideq is a town in northern Morocco, on the Mediterranean coast in the Rif region, situated 31 kilometres north of the city of Tétouan. It is located near the Spanish enclave of Ceuta.... |
28 | 2004–2008 | 36 | last 11 km opened 21-07-08 | ||
Future plans
ADM has far developed plans to start in 2009 with:- upgrading the A3 Casablanca-RabatCasablanca-Rabat expresswayThe Casablanca-Rabat expressway, designated A3, was the first expressway to be built in Morocco, with construction starting in the 1970s. It was only completed in 1986 after a 7 year halt....
- by widening the road from 2 x 2 to 2 x 3 lanes over 58 km. Planned completion in 2012
Road safety
In 2007 762 accidents with casualties were reported, a 5% increase on 2006. The accident-rate per 100 million traveled kiloneters dropped by 20% from 30,2 to 24,1 between these years, but the total number as well as rate of deaths didn't go down.A break-down of these figures:
| Type accident | 2006 | 2007 | % change | notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| serious accidents | 726 | 762 | +5% | is accident with serious inj. or deaths | |
| rate per 100 mln km. | 30,2 | 24.1 | -20% | ||
| fatal accidents | 74 | 86 | +16% | is accident with at least one death | |
| rate per 100 mln km. | 3,1 | 2,7 | -12% | ||
| serious injuries | 480 | 535 | +11% | ||
| is per 100 mln km. | 20,0 | 16,9 | -15% | ||
| deaths | 90 | 127 | +41% | ||
| is per 100 mln km. | 3,7 | 4,0 | +7% | ||
Increasing road-safety
Increasing safety is an important goal for the ADM: the new autoroutes are designed to improve safety and the ADM also believes that extending the express-way network will increase overall safety as the through-going (and often high-speed) traffic is moved away from the Route Nationals, that run through the cities and villages along the way. Expressways also use non-level crossings and because there is no oncoming traffic overtaking cars is safer then on normal roads.The ADM also publishes accident figures to increase the attention of the public in road-safety..
In the first quarter of 2011 the number of accidents on expressways with injuries fell 21% compared to the same period in 2010
See also
- List of roads and highways
- List of toll roads
- Société Nationale des Autoroutes du MarocSociété Nationale des Autoroutes du MarocThe Société Nationale des Autoroutes du Maroc is the Morocco's national authority for the management of over 850 km of Moroccan expressways. ADM is based in Rabat....