Casablanca–Agadir expressway

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A3

Route information
Length429 km (267 mi)
Existed2000–present
HistoryCompleted on 21 June 2010
Major junctions
North endCasablanca
South endAgadir
Location
CountryMorocco
Highway system
A3 motorway in Morocco

The Autoroute Casablanca–Agadir is a new main road in Morocco. Building began in 2000 and the road was inaugurated on 21 June 2010 by Prince Moulay Rachid.[1]

The road is 429 km (267 mi) long and connects the cities of Casablanca and Agadir through the city of Marrakesh and High Atlas mountains.

Casablanca–Marrakesh

It has been designated A3 as its identity marker. Total length is 210 km: 52 km Casablanca–Settat and 158 km Settat–Marrakech, including A301.[2]

The expressway takes its origins south of the residential area of Casablanca, at the interchange with the A1 Rabat-Safi expressway. It continues south past Bouskoura and serves the Mohamed V airport with an exit. A toll station is placed just south of there. The road then circumvales the town of Berrechid serving it with an exit north of it for south-bound traffic and one south of it for north-bound traffic.

The road was opened in 2002 to Settat, and construction on the remaining part started in 2003 reaching Marrakesh in 2007. In 2005 the 17 km bypass of Settat opened.[3] When the Marrakech–Agadir expressway opened in 2009 it was directly connected to this A3.

The Casablanca–Marrakesh highway was completed and opened to traffic on April 17, 2007.[4]

Toll-revenues of this road, including the Casablanca bypass, totaled 219 million dirhams, reaching 3rd spot of top earners[5]

Marrakesh–Agadir

A3 motorway, Agadir-Marrakesh

Financial

In June 2004 the Moroccan operator of expressways ADM signed an agreement with the Hasan II Society for economic and social development for a refinancing scheme of the ADM. This financial injection made construction of new roads possible and construction started in 2006.[6]

The road is a toll road or péage to pay back the investments.

Beside the ADM several other parties are involved. Some major investors participate in specific sections of the road or a general goal.

The main investors are (in million dirham)[6][7]

  • BID - Islamic Bank for Development - 965 MDH
  • FADES -Arab Fund for social and economic development - 920
  • FKDEA- Kuwait Fund for Arab and Economic Development - 450
  • BAD - African Bank for Development - 1315
  • JBIC- Japan Bank for International Cooperation - 1370

Overview

Below is a short overview of the different sub-projects, the costs[8] (against the estimated costs[9]) and the main contractors for that section. For some sections, only contractors for initial work are reported.

# from via to length real and (est cost)
in M Dh
contractors from
1 Marrakesh Marrakesh West
Interchange
33 km 583 (783) El Hajji
Srfiani
The Arab Contractors
 Morocco
 Egypt
2 Marr. West Interchg. - Chichaoua 51 km 810 (1060) Burhan  Kuwait
3 Chichaoua Imintanoute 33 km 753 (975) SEPROB
SNCE
 Morocco
4 Imintanout PK13 Argana 59 km 2125 (2644) TECNOVIA
COVEC
 Portugal
 China
5 Argana PK 20 Ameskroud 46 km 1754 (2132) DOGUS  Turkey
6 Ameskroud - Agadir 11 km 287 (293) Planum
Mostogradnja
 Serbia

Construction

Work is divided into several main sections, each with their own contractors and workers. Construction of a 4-lane motorway through the mountains of the High Atlas requires many structures as fly-overs, viaducts and bridges. The existing national road (route nationale) is used for transportation of building material etc. Along this route, new exits and side roads are constructed to several main working locations and temporary factories (concrete, storage, camp-sites for builders, etc.).

The new road crosses the existing road several times and follows more or less the same route through the mountains.

Layout

Over the full length the new autoroute has:

  • two standard traffic lanes in each direction, each 3.5 meters wide with a central separation zone of at least 3 meters
  • one emergency lane / hard shoulder in each direction of 1.5 meters wide

The road has 8 exits/entries, 9 toll-port gates and 4 rest stops with petrol stations, cafés and a room or building for praying. Thirteen viaducts and one tunnel were built to complete the road (excluding viaducts built over the road and/or tunnels under the road for crossing inferior local roads or feet-bridges: if you include these another 100 structures can be included.[8]

Toll road

As (nearly) all Moroccan expressways this new section is also a toll road.

The existing national road will remain open as a toll-free alternative for the autoroute as well as allowing access to smaller villages and roads. Traveling time between Marrakesh and Agadir will be reduced greatly as the autoroute allows overtaking everywhere (4 lane), bypasses villages and allows higher speeds. Possible speed on 2-lane national roads is often greatly reduced due to very slow lorries crawling up a hill while steep bends and traffic from the other side make overtaking hazardous or impossible.

The Marrakesh–Agadir section completes a north–south corridor of expressways that shortens the travel-distance on the route Tangier to Agadir by nearly 50 km (via toll-roads the distance is 776 and via the Route Nationale 824 km. But the biggest save is driving-time: the average travelling time Tangier–Agadir over national (free) roads is 14.5 hours while the same via the different toll-roads is under 7.5 hours[8]

Route

Exit Distance Direction Roads
Sinnbild Autobahnkreuz.svg Junction between A3 and A1 km 0 Had Soualem
El Jadida
A1
Rabat
Tanger
Oujda
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 32 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) Ville Verte
Bouskoura
P3011
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 37 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) Bouskoura P3013
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 313 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) Airplane silhouette.svg
Airport Mohammed V Airplane silhouette.svg
P3038
BAB-Grenze.svg Toll
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
15 kilometers (9.3 mi) Nouaceur toll station
BAB-Grenze.svg Toll (Casablanca - Agadir direction)
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 321
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
21 kilometers (13 mi) Berrechid toll station
Berrechid North
N12
Sinnbild Autobahnkreuz.svg Junction between A3 and A4 25 kilometers (16 mi) Khouribga
Béni Mellal
A4
Spain traffic signal tp18.svg Sinnbild Autobahnkreuz.svg Junction between A3 and
Tit Mellil-Berrechid expressway
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
Tit Mellil-Berrechid
expressway under construction
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 332 32 kilometers (20 mi) Berrechid South
Khouribga
Béni Mellal
N12
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 35 kilometers (22 mi) Service area
Berrechid
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 352 52 kilometers (32 mi) Settat North P3606
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 365 65 kilometers (40 mi) Settat Center
El Borouj
R308
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 75 kilometers (47 mi) Service area
Settat
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3104 104 kilometers (65 mi) Machraa Ben Abbou P3503
Pannreau cours d'eau France.PNG Oued 106 kilometers (66 mi) Oued Oum Rbia
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 107 kilometers (66 mi) Service area
Oum Rbia
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3127 127 kilometers (79 mi) Skhour Rhamna N9
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 154 kilometers (96 mi) Service area
Ben Guerir
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3160 160 kilometers (99 mi) Ben Guerir
Youssoufia
El Kelaa des Sraghna
R206
Aire de pique-nique.png
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
194 kilometers (121 mi) Rest area
Sidi Bou Othmane
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
Service area
Sidi Bou Othmane
Sinnbild Autobahnkreuz.svg Junction between A3 and A301 198 kilometers (123 mi) Marrakech Palmeraie A301
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3214 214 kilometers (133 mi) Marrakech Tamansourt
Safi
El Jadida
N7
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 228 kilometers (142 mi) Service area
Marrakech
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3232 232 kilometers (144 mi) Marrakech Targa P2006
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3248 248 kilometers (154 mi) Marrakech Loudaya
Sidi Zouine
N8
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png km 279 Service area
Chichaoua
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3282 282 kilometers (175 mi) Chichaoua
Essaouira per toll-free expressway
N8
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3310 310 kilometers (190 mi) Imintanoute N11
Spain traffic signal s5.png Tunnel 325 kilometers (202 mi) Zaouiat Ait Mellal tunnel
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 345 kilometers (214 mi) Service area
Imintanoute
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3370 370 kilometers (230 mi) Argana N11 P1713
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
406 kilometers (252 mi) Service area
BAB-Grenze.svg Toll 419 kilometers (260 mi) Amskroud toll station
Sinnbild Autobahnausfahrt.svg 3420 420 kilometers (260 mi) Amskroud
Taroudannt
N11 R114A
Aire d'autoroute - station essence.png 424 kilometers (263 mi) Service area
Amskroud
Sinnbild Autobahnkreuz.svg Junction between A3 and N11A
End of expressway
429 kilometers (267 mi) Agadir N11A N1
Zaouiat Aït Mellal Tunnel

Sources and footnotes

  1. ^ Press-release Inauguration new Agadir-Marrakesh road Archived 2011-06-22 at the Wayback Machine, visited 25 June 2010
  2. ^ ADM's PDF publication: 2007 in figures Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine, visited 23 August 2008
  3. ^ Important dates Archived March 7, 2012, at the Wayback Machine on ADM website, visited 23 August 2008
  4. ^ Opening of completed road by king Archived 2011-07-16 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Main financial figures Archived 2010-04-13 at the Wayback Machine on ADM's website, visited 23 August 2008
  6. ^ a b Details from Project page Archived 2008-08-01 at the Wayback Machine on ADM site
  7. ^ Article on Made in Morocco site Archived May 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ a b c Source: Information for the press regarding Agadir-Marrakesh Archived 2010-07-04 at the Wayback Machine published by the ADM, downloaded 25 June 2010.
  9. ^ Information from ADM site on Marakech-Agadir project Archived 2008-09-16 at the Wayback Machine