Motorways of Pakistan

Motorways of Pakistan
Pakistan motorway sign
System information
Maintained by National Highway Authority
Length2,567 km (1,595 mi)
Formed1997
Highway names
System links

Motorways of Pakistan (Urdu: پاکستان کے موٹروے) are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed, controlled-access highways in Pakistan which are owned, maintained, and operated federally by Pakistan's National Highway Authority. Motorways were constructed during the 2013-2017 reign of Nawaz Shrif, much of which were also inaugurated during his rule. At present, 2567 km of motorways are operational, while an additional 1191 km are under construction. Motorways are a part of Pakistan's “National Trade Corridor Project” and “China-Pakistan Belt Road Initiative,” from Khunjerab Pass near the Chinese border to Gwadar in Balochistan. 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

M-2 motorway in the Salt Range
M-2 motorway exit to Sargodha

Pakistan's motorways are an important part of Pakistan's "National Trade Corridor Project", which aims to link Pakistan's three Arabian Sea ports (Karachi Port, Port Bin Qasim and Gwadar Port) to the rest of the country through its national highways and motorways network and further north with Afghanistan, Central Asia and China. The project was planned in 1990. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor project aims to link Gwadar Port and Kashgar (China) using Pakistani motorways, national highways, and expressways.

List of motorways

Name Route Length (km) Lanes Completion Year Status Remarks
M-1 M-1 Motorway PeshawarIslamabad 155 6 2007 Operational
M-2 M-2 Motorway IslamabadLahore 367 6 1997 Operational Repaved in 2016
M-3 M-3 Motorway LahoreAbdul Hakeem 230 6 2019

Operational

Construction began in December 2015.
M-4 M-4 Motorway Pindi BhattianMultan 309 4-6 2019

Operational

Construction began in 2009.
M-5 M-5 Motorway MultanSukkur 392 6 2019 Operational Construction began in May 2016.
M-6 M-6 Motorway Sukkur-Hyderabad 306 6 2024 Under Construction Ground breaking done on 13 December 2022
M-6 M-7 Motorway DaduHub 270 N/A N/A Planned
M-8 M-8 Motorway RatoderoGwadar 892 2 2022 Partially Operational
Under Construction
M-9 M-9 Motorway HyderabadKarachi 136 6 2018 Operational Upgradation planned into 8 lanes.
M-10 M-10 Motorway Karachi Northern Bypass 57 2 2007 Operational Proposed for expansion into 4 lane.
M-11 M-11 Motorway LahoreSialkot 103 4 2020 Operational Construction started in 2018
M-12 M-12 Motorway SialkotKharian 69 4 2024 Under Construction Construction started in September 2021
M-13 M-13 Motorway Kharian - Rawalpindi 117 4 2024 Under Construction
M-14 M-14 Motorway IslamabadD.I Khan 285 4 2022 Operational Construction began in May 2016.

M-15

M-15 Motorway Hasan AbdalThakot 180 6-4-2 2020 Operational Also called Hazara Motorway. Construction began in 2016
M-16 M-16 Motorway SwabiChakdara 160 4 2020 Operational Also called Swat Motorway. Phase 1 operational in October 2020.Phase 2 construction started in May 2022 & will be completed in February 2024.
Total Length

Other proposed motorways

Name Route Length (km) Lanes Completion Year Status Remarks
Peshawar - D.I. Khan Motorway PeshawarD.I. Khan 360 6 2024 Approved by ECNEC on 10 Sep 2021
Dir Motorway DirSwat 4 --
Mansehra–Muzaffarabad–Mirpur–Mangla motorway (MMMM) MansehraMuzaffarabadMirpurMangla 174 4 Planned
Peshawar–Kabul–Dushanbe motorway PeshawarKabulDushanbe 6 Planned Under Feasibility
Shorkot–Layyah motorway ShorkotLayyah 119 -- Connection with two CPEC routes
Lahore–Kartarpur motorway LahoreKartarpur Connection to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur

Map

Map of road systems in Pakistan

Network map

Map
Interactive map of motorways of Pakistan

Patrolling and enforcement

Motorway police patrolling the M-2 motorway

Pakistan's Motorways are patrolled by Pakistan's National Highways & Motorway Police (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 use speed cameras for enforcing speed limits. The nationwide contact number from both mobiles and landlines is 130, and is available 24 hours a day.

M-TAG

A RFID MTAG used for electronic toll collection in Pakistan.
A RFID MTAG used for electronic toll collection on controlled-access highways/motorways within Pakistan.

In 2016, NHA implemented electronic toll collection on M2 motorway in partnership with One Network that uses a RFID-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 and M-8, and is also used on Lahore Ring Road.

Emergency runways

The M-1 motorway (Peshawar-Islamabad) and the M-2 motorway (Islamabad-Lahore) each include two emergency runway sections of 9,000 feet (2,700 m) length. The four emergency runway sections become operational by removing removable concrete medians using forklifts. The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) has used the M-2 motorway as a runway on two occasions: the first time in 2000 when it landed an F-7P fighter, a Super Mushak trainer and a C-130 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 and an F-7P, during its Highmark 2010 exercise.

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-02-14 19:04 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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