The Rabat–Tangier-Med expressway is an expressway in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. It begins in Morocco's capital of

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ) is the Capital (political), capital city of Morocco and the List of cities in Morocco, country's seventh-largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. ...

, and connects to the northern port of

Tanger-Med Tanger Med (in Arabic: طنجة المتوسط ) is a Moroccan industrial port complex, located 45 km northeast of Tangier and opposite Tarifa, Spain (15 km north) on the Strait of Gibraltar, with handling capacities of 9 million conta ...

. The expressway's identity marker is "A5". The Rabat-Tanger expressway originates at an interchange along the Rabat-Fes expressway, at the end of the Rabat bypass. The road then continues to the toll station at the Kénitra centre interchange, before continuing north towards the Kénitra north interchange where it passes under the RP2 road. Just north of here lies the Kénitra north toll station. The expressway then follows the coast past the fishing village of Moulay Bouselham. 30 km north of there is the town of

Larache Larache () is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast, where the Loukkos River meets the Atlantic Ocean. Larache is one of the most important cities of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region. Many civilisations and cultures have ...

where there is an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their ...

. Another 30 km along the way is the interchange at Sidi El Yamani, connecting to the road to Tetouan and

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

. There is another intersection at

Asilah Asilah () is a fortified town on the northwest tip of the Atlantic coast of Morocco, about south of Tangier. Its ramparts and gateworks remain fully intact. History The town's history dates back to 1500 B.C., when Phoenicians occupied a site ...

, with 40 km remaining to

Tangier Tangier ( ; , , ) is a city in northwestern Morocco, on the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The city is the capital city, capital of the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region, as well as the Tangier-Assilah Prefecture of Moroc ...

. The road then crosses the Tahaddart river estuary before reaching its final destination.

History

Construction started in 1993 and in 1995 the first section, between

and Kénitra north, was opened. The road was prolonged to

in 1996. In 2000, the section to Sidi El Yamani was opened, with

being connected in 2002. In July 2005, 12 years after the start of construction, the totality of the

axis An axis (: axes) may refer to: Mathematics *A specific line (often a directed line) that plays an important role in some contexts. In particular: ** Coordinate axis of a coordinate system *** ''x''-axis, ''y''-axis, ''z''-axis, common names ...

was completed. The axis technically comprises also the Rabat bypass, although it does not conform with

motorway 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 ...

regulations Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

. Before its opening in 1997, getting to the origin of the road was a hard task for

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

coming from

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

, as the centre of Rabat had to be crossed.

Financial

In 2007 the toll-revenues for this road totaled 269 million dirhams (2006: 212 MDh), taking 2nd place in list of ''top earners'' in Morocco (Figure includes sections Tangier-RN2 and Tétouan - M'diq).
Figures regarding investments for road-construction: (costs per km. in brackets)Development programme
on ADM website, visited 23 August 2008 * Rabat - Larache : 1800 M Dh - 13 M Dh/km. * Larache - Sidi El Yamani : 400 M Dh - 15 M Dh/km. * Sidi El Yamani – Asilah : 440 M Dh - 30 M Dh/km. * Asilah - Tanger : 1400 M Dh - 47 M Dh/km. : TOTAL 4040 M Dh and also: * Desserte du port Tanger-Med : 3930 M Dh - 73 M Dh/km.

Links and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rabat-Tangier expressway Autoroutes in Morocco E Expressway