The M-9 motorway or the Karachi–Hyderabad motorway (

Urdu Urdu (;"Urdu"
'' 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 i ...

in the Sindh province of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, connecting

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...

. The six-lane road is 136 kilometers long, and caters to the commercial traffic originating from the

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 ...

and Port Qasim. Daily traffic count is around 30,000. The motorway is an upgrade of the old Super Highway. The

Frontier Works Organization The Frontier Works Organization ( ur, )); abbreviated as FWO), is a military engineering organization, and one of the major science and technology commands of the Pakistan Army. Commissioned and established in 1966, the FWO includes active dut ...

executed the project on a

build–operate–transfer Build–operate–transfer (BOT) or build–own–operate–transfer (BOOT) is a form of project delivery method, usually for large-scale infrastructure projects, wherein a private entity receives a concession from the public sector (or the priva ...

basis for 25 years.

History

Motorways were first proposed in Pakistan by the government of former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

. Pakistan's first motorway, the 367 km six-lane M-2, was inaugurated in November 1997, making it the first motorway in

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...

. On 11 March 2015, an inauguration ceremony was held for the M-9 Motorway with a planned completion date of August 2017. The six-lane, four-interchange road linking Karachi to Hyderabad was estimated to cost Rs. 36 billion. The interchanges at Dadabhai, Industrial Valley, Nooriabad, and Thana Bola Khan, were to enable

Tharparkar Tharparkar (Dhatki/ sd, ٿرپارڪر, ur, ), also known as Thar, is a district in Sindh province in Pakistan headquartered at Mithi. Before Indian independence it was known as the Thar and Parkar district. The district is the largest in Si ...

, Jimphir, Keenjhar, and other areas to be connected as well. On 3 February 2017, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated a completed section of the motorway from Loni Kot to Lucky

toll plaza A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemente ...

. At that time, about half part of the route (75 km out of 136 km) had been completed, with the other half having an expected completion date of March 2018. On 24 December 2020, a new

was inaugurated on the M-9. With 24 lanes (6 entry, 18 exit points), it is the largest toll plaza in Pakistan. In February 2022, the federal government decided to further upgrade the motorway from six to eight lanes to cater to the high traffic volume.

Route

M-9 begins north of Karachi near the junction of the Karachi Northern Bypass (also known as

M-10 M10, M-10 or M 10 may refer to: Science and technology * Messier 10, a globular cluster in the constellation Ophiuchus * M10, a Garmin Nüvifone smartphone * Samsung Galaxy M10, a smartphone * M10 (rocket engine), a rocket engine Transportation ...

). The Karachi Northern Bypass and this road are connected via a

trumpet interchange In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, usi ...

. After that, it leaves the city. Through a link road, it forms a junction with the N5 on a northeast track. The highway exits Karachi and enters the

Thar Desert The Thar Desert, also known as the Great Indian Desert, is an arid region in the north-western part of the Subcontinent that covers an area of and forms a natural boundary between India and Pakistan. It is the world's 20th-largest desert, a ...

. Located outside the city of Hyderabad, the motorway ends at a cloverleaf interchange in

Kotri Kotri ( sd, ڪوٽڙي, ur, ) is a city and the headquarters of the Kotri Taluka of Jamshoro District of Sindh province in Pakistan. Located on the right bank of the Indus River, it is the 29th largest city in Pakistan by population. Name Th ...

. Afterwards, it merges with the N-5.

Features

As with other motorways in Pakistan, speed limits of 80 km/h for heavy transport vehicles and 120 km/h for light transport vehicles are in place on M-9. For safety and to prevent unauthorized access, it features a central median and is fenced on the outside. Only fast-moving vehicles are allow to enter, therefore, vehicles that are slow-moving are not allowed, including pedestrians, bicycles, motorcycles, and animal-driven carriages. However, heavy motorbikes are used for patrolling purposes by the Pakistani National Highways & Motorways Police. The motorway has a two-lane

service road A frontage road (also known as an access road, outer road, service road, feeder road, or parallel road) is a local road running parallel to a higher-speed, limited-access road. A frontage road is often used to provide access to private drivew ...

on either side.

References

{{Pakistan Motorways M09 M-9

History

Route

Features

See also

References