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Autoroutes of Morocco

Morocco's network of motorways is administered by the state-owned company Autoroutes du Maroc (ADM). It runs the network on a pay-per-use basis, with toll stations placed along its length. The general speed limit is 120 km/h.

Map of Moroccan highways and expressways
Casablanca-Rabat expressway (A1) going northbound near Temara

History

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The first expressway in the country was the A1 Casablanca-Rabat. Construction of the first section started in 1975. Completion of this road between the economic and the administrative capitals took 13 years. Originally, use of the road was free of charge. The toll-road system was introduced as one measure to prevent lengthy construction times, as happened with this first road. Finding investors for new roads would be easier if these roads generated their own revenue to repay investors.[1]

Realized

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In 2006, it was announced that ADM would be investing 6.18 billion dirhams ($859 million) to develop its highway network in 2007.[2] These investment packages were part of the objective that aimed to complete 1,500 km by 2012.

As of August 2016, ADM managed 1808 km[3] of Morocco's toll roads.[4] As of November 2016 the total length of Morocco's motorways is 1,808 kilometres (paid) and 1,093 kilometres (free) expressways.[5]

Planned

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The Kingdom of Morocco is planning investments of around €23 billion in road construction until 2035. The Moroccan government has announced that more than 5,500 kilometres of new highways and expressways are to be constructed with investment totalling €8.8 billion. This includes 700 km of 3x2 roads that will be constructed.

Also 45,000 km of new rural roads will be created in rural areas and the modernization of 7,000 km of rural roads. It is part of new plan of the Moroccan Ministry of Transport, which will invest 660 billion dirhams in the transport and logistics sector.

Completed roads

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Section of Fes-Oujda expressway just before opening in July 2011
 
Viaduct of the Fes-Oujda expressway just before opening in July 2011

The main Moroccan expressways are:

The construction history of these expressways by segment is as follows:[6][7]

Moroccan Expressways
from to length
in km 		construction
period 		avg costs
MDH/km 		notes
Casablanca Rabat 62 forming the A3 motorway
using: Casablanca Oued Cherrat 33,5 1975–1978
and: Oued Cherrat Rabat 25.5 1983–1987
Rabat Larache 150 13
using: Rabat Kénitra 40 1993–1995
and: Kénitra Larache 110 1993–1996
Larache Sidi El yamani 28 1996–1999
Sidi El yamani Asilah 15 2000–2002
Asilah Tanger 30 2002–2005
together forming the A1 Rabat-Tangier expressway
Rabat Fès 167 14.4
using Rabat Khemiset 66 1996–1999
and Fes Khemiset 116 1995–1998
Casablanca Settat 57 1998–2001 17.5
Casablanca bypass 27 2000–2004 25 built in two phases
Casablanca Safi 255.5
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
and El Jadida Safi 143 2012–2016 30
Settat Marrakesh 162 2004–2007
Tanger-Med connector 54 2004–2008 73
Tétouan Fnideq 28 2004–2008 36 last 11 km opened 21-07-08

Road safety

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In 2007 762 accidents with casualties were reported, a 5% increase on 2006. The accident-rate per 100 million traveled kilometers 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 breakdown of these figures:[8]

Moroccan Expressways Safety
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

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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 than on normal roads. The ADM also publishes accident figures to increase the attention of the public in road-safety.[9]

In the first quarter of 2011 the number of accidents on expressways with injuries fell 21% compared to the same period in 2010[10]

See also

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References and notes

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  1. ^ "Histoire de l'autoroute au Maroc" (in French). ADM. Archived from the original on 1 August 2008. Retrieved 4 August 2008.
  2. ^ "Morocco strengthens infrastructural development". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved September 28, 2006.
  3. ^ (in French)Moroccan infrastructures
  4. ^ Overview main development figures on ADM site, visited september 2010.
  5. ^ "Les voies express". Archived from the original on 2018-01-20. Retrieved September 3, 2018.
  6. ^ Data obtained from key dates Archived 2012-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ development program Archived 2008-08-18 at the Wayback Machine on ADM site as of 4 August 2008
  8. ^ Official safety figures Archived 2012-03-08 at the Wayback Machine as reported by ADM, visited 3 August 2008
  9. ^ ADM Website Detailed report on road-safety on expressways Archived 2011-09-29 at the Wayback Machine, PDF (French), retrieved 27 June 2011
  10. ^ Newsarticle on ADM website 21% decrease in traffic accidents on motorways in Q1 2011 Archived 2011-06-13 at the Wayback Machine, visited 27 June 2011
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