Motorways of Pakistan ( ur, ) are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed,

controlled-access highway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

s in Pakistan which are owned, maintained, and operated federally by Pakistan's

National Highway Authority The National Highway Authority (NHA; ur, ) is a statutory body under the Ministry of Communications (Pakistan), Ministry of Communications (MoCom) of Pakistan. History In 1978, the Government of Pakistan federalised five important inter-prov ...

. At present, 2816 km of motorways are operational, while an additional 3100 km are under construction or planned. Motorways are a part of Pakistan's “National Trade Corridor Project” and “ China-Pakistan Belt Road Initiative,” from

Khunjerab Pass Khunjerab Pass (; ; ug, قونجىراپ ئېغىزى) is a mountain pass in the Karakoram Mountains, in a strategic position on the northern border of Pakistan (Gilgit–Baltistan's Hunza and Nagar Districts) and on the southwest border of Ch ...

near the Chinese border to

Gwadar Gwadar ( Balochi/ ur, ) is a port city with located on the southwestern coast of Balochistan, Pakistan. The city is located on the shores of the Arabian Sea opposite Oman. Gwadar is the 100th largest city of Pakistan, according to the 2017 ...

Balochistan Balochistan ( ; bal, بلۏچستان; also romanised as Baluchistan and Baluchestan) is a historical region in Western and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. ...

. There are a total of 16 motorways, 11 of which are operational, while some are under construction and others are planned. All motorways in Pakistan are prefixed with the letter 'M' (for "Motorway") followed by the unique numerical designation of the specific highway (with a hyphen in the middle), e.g. "M-1".

History

Pakistan's motorways are an important part of Pakistan's "National Trade Corridor Project", which aims to link Pakistan's three

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

ports (

Karachi Port The Port of Karachi ( ur, , ''Bandar gāh Karāchī'') is one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports, handling about 60% of the nation's cargo (25 million tons per annum) located in Karachi, Pakistan. It is located on the Kar ...

Port Bin Qasim The Port Muhammad Bin Qasim ( ur, ''Bandar-gāh Muhammad bin Qāsim''), or Qasim Port Authority ( ur, ), also known as Port Qasim, is a deep-water seaport in Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan, on the coastline of the Arabian Sea under the administr ...

and

Gwadar Port The Gwadar Port ( ur, ) is situated on the Arabian Sea at Gwadar in Balochistan province of Pakistan and is under the administrative control of the Maritime Secretary of Pakistan and operational control of the China Overseas Port Holding Com ...

) to the rest of the country through its national highways and motorways network and further north with

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The project was planned in 1990. The

China Pakistan Economic Corridor China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

project aims to link

and

Kashgar Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...

(

) using Pakistani motorways,

national highways National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in England. It al ...

, and

expressways Expressway may refer to: *Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. *Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional slide ...

List of motorways

Other proposed motorways

Map

Network map

Patrolling and enforcement

Pakistan's Motorways are patrolled by Pakistan's

National Highways & Motorway Police The National Highways & Motorway Police ( ur, ), abbreviated NHMP, is a police force in Pakistan that is responsible for enforcement of traffic and safety laws, security and recovery on Pakistan's National Highways and Motorway network. NHMP u ...

(NH&MP), which is responsible for enforcement of traffic and safety laws, security and recovery on the Pakistan Motorway network. The NH&MP use SUVs, cars and heavy motorbikes for patrolling purposes and uses speed cameras for enforcing speed limits.

M-TAG

In 2016, NHA implemented electronic toll collection on

M2 motorway This is a list of roads designated M2: Europe * M2 motorway (Great Britain), a motorway in England * M2 expressway (Hungary), a motorway in Hungary * N2 road (Ireland)#M2 motorway, a motorway in the Republic of Ireland * M-2 highway (Monteneg ...

in partnership with One Network that uses a

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

-based tag called the "M-TAG". The tag is attached to the windscreen of vehicles and is automatically scanned at toll plazas on entry and exit, meanwhile debiting the calculated toll tax from a prepaid M-TAG account. The service has since been expanded to all motorways, except

M-14 M14, M-14, or M.14 most often refers to: * M14 rifle, an American military rifle ** Mk 14 Enhanced Battle Rifle, an American designated marksman rifle based on the M14 M14, M-14, or M.14 may also refer to: Roads * Highway M14 (Ukraine) * M-14 (Mic ...

and M-8, and is also used on

Lahore Ring Road The Lahore Ring Road () is an 85-kilometer-long (53 mi) controlled-access, orbital highway located in Lahore, Pakistan. It links to the M-2 Motorway, the M-11 Motorway, and the N5 National Highway while going around the city of Lahore. ...

Emergency runways

The M-1 motorway (Peshawar-Islamabad) and the M-2 motorway (Islamabad-Lahore) each include two emergency runway sections of length. The four emergency runway sections become operational by removing removable concrete medians using forklifts. The

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

(PAF) has used the M-2 motorway as a runway on two occasions: the first time in 2000 when it landed an

F-7P The Chengdu J-7 (Chinese: 歼-7; third generation export version F-7; NATO reporting name: Fishcan) is a People's Republic of China fighter aircraft. It is a license-built version of the Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21, and thus shares many si ...

fighter, a

Super Mushak The PAC MFI-17 Mushshak (Urdu: مشاق) (English: ''Proficient'') is a license-built fixed-gear basic trainer aircraft manufactered by PAC. An improved version of the Saab Safari (MFI-15), the MFI-17 is manufactured in Kamra, Pakistan by Pakis ...

trainer and a

C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally desig ...

and, again, in 2010. On the last occasion, the PAF used a runway section on the M-2 motorway on 2 April 2010 to land, refuel and take-off two jet fighters, a

Mirage III The Dassault Mirage III () is a family of single/dual-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizonta ...

and an

, during its Highmark 2010 exercise.PAF Conducts Fighter Operations from Motorway
Pakistan Air Force, Government of Pakistan website, Published 2 April 2010, Retrieved 2 March 2022

References

External links

National Highway Authority

Pakistan National Highways & Motorway Police
{{Motorways in Asia 01 *