The Me-1 road (previously known as the C-721 road) is situated on the island of

Menorca Menorca or Minorca (from , later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Mallorca. Its capital is Maó, situated on the isl ...

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. It connects the two main cities of the island,

Mahón Mahón (), officially Maó (, ; formerly spelled ''Mahó''), and also written as Mahon or Port Mahon in English, is the capital and second largest city of Menorca. The city is located on the eastern coast of the island, which is part of the ar ...

and Ciutadella. In 2001 improvements were made to the road; the lanes were widened and the road diverted from the urban centres of Alayor and

Ferreries Ferreries () is a municipality on the island of Menorca, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Covering approximately , it forms a natural transition between the island’s northern cliffs and southern sandy coves and beaches ...

. It has a total length of 45 kilometres.

History

The origins of the road date back to the 2nd century BC, when the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

conquered the

Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus Quintus Caecilius Metellus Balearicus (born c. 170 BC) was a Roman statesman and general who was elected consul for the year 123 BC. Career Quintus Caecilius Metellus was the eldest son of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, the Roman consul o ...

ordered for a

Roman road Roman roads ( ; singular: ; meaning "Roman way") were physical infrastructure vital to the maintenance and development of the Roman state, built from about 300 BC through the expansion and consolidation of the Roman Republic and the Roman Em ...

to be built which united the cities of Magonis (now Mahón) and Jamma (now Ciudadella). Since then the route of the road has changed very little.

Name

Former name

Before the improvements in 2001 the road was called the C-721. This name was formed using a combination of the letter ''C'', identifying that the road is regional (Spanish: ''comarcal''), with the following three numbers: * Firstly: ''7'', indicating that the road is situated on the

. * Secondly: ''2'', indicating that it is on the island of

. * Lastly: ''1'', the number that it received in the order of all the regional roads on the island.

Current name

Currently the road is designated Me-1; The prefix ''Me'' indicates that it belongs to the Menorca road network, and the ''1'' is the number that it has in the order of the entire road network on the island.

External links

Consell Insular de Menorca
(''Spanish'') Roads in Spain {{Spain-road-stub