The M-1 motorway or the Islamabad–Peshawar Motorway ( ur, ) is an east–west

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 ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, connecting

Peshawar Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

to Islamabad–Rawalpindi. The motorway was constructed during

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Pervez Musharraf General Pervez Musharraf ( ur, , Parvez Muśharraf; born 11 August 1943) is a former Pakistani politician and four-star general of the Pakistan Army who became the tenth president of Pakistan after the successful military takeover of t ...

's rule at a cost of Rs. 13 billion, and was opened in October 2007. It spans , with in

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the northwestern region of the country, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ...

and in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi Language, Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also Romanization, romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the I ...

History

Work on M-1 was started during Nawaz Sharif's tenure in 1997, and the contract was awarded to Turkish company Bayindar. However, the work stopped after his government was dismissed by Army chief Gen.Pervez Musharraf in october 1999. Progress remained very slow and not much work was done between 1999 and 2003. Work restarted in 2003 after the contract was re-awarded to a consortium PMC-JV during President Pervez Musharraf's tenure. A plan was made to connect the existing M-2 motorway with the Torkham border. In 2004, the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

body was briefed on a plan to connect

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 Co ...

with the existing motorway infrastructure. Hence, it highlighted importance of M-1 motorway in this context. It was completed at a cost of Rs. 13 billion, and was inaugurated by President

on 30 October 2007.

Route

The M-1 originates northeast of

at the junction with the

Peshawar Ring Road Peshawar Ring Road ( ur, , ps, د پېښور حلقوي سړک, also known officially as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Highway 13) is a orbital highway located in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. Route The ring road serves as a bypass ...

. It then crosses over the Kabul River in an eastern direction passing the cities of Charsadda, Risalpur,

Swabi Swabi ( ps, صوابۍ; ur, ) is a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan,Rashakai Rashakai is a small town located along the Nowshera-Mardan road, in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. Rashakai interchange The town gained importance in 2007, when an interchange of the M1 Motorway was constructed here. Rashakai interchange serves for Nows ...

before crossing the

Indus River The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmi ...

. The M-1 leaves Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and enters into

province, where it passes through

Attock Attock (Punjabi and Urdu: ), formerly known as Campbellpur (), is a historical city located in the north of Pakistan's Punjab Province, not far from the country's capital Islamabad. It is the headquarters of the Attock District and is 61st lar ...

, Burhan, and Hasan Abdal. The M-1 terminates near Islamabad as a continuation of the M-2 motorway. The whole stretch of the M-1 consists of six lanes, with a number of rest stops along the route. The M-1 has 14 interchanges - at Airport Link Road, Islamabad, AWT/ Sanjiani/ Paswal, Burma Bhatar, Burhan (Hassan Abadal/ Kamra), Hazara Expressway (E-35), Ghazi, Chachh, Sawabi, Rashakai, Charsadda, the Peshawar Northern Bypass and Peshawar Ring Road. At Brahma Bahtar Interchange, the Brahma Bahtar-Yarik Motorway leads towards

Dera Ismail Khan Dera Ismail Khan (; bal, , Urdu and skr, , ps, ډېره اسماعيل خان), abbreviated as D.I. Khan, is a city and capital of Dera Ismail Khan District, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is the 37th largest city of Pakista ...

. There are three major bridges along the route along the Haro, Indus and

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

rivers, 18 flyovers, 27 small bridges, 137 underpasses and 571 culverts. 10 service areas (five on the each side of the motorway) are present along the route.

Junctions and interchanges

References

External links

AH1 M01 {{Pakistan-road-stub

History

Route

Junctions and interchanges

See also

References

External links