Casablanca–Agadir expressway

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]

A3 motorway shield}}
A3 motorway
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 road is 429 km (267 mi) long and connects the cities of Casablanca and Agadir through the city of Marrakesh and High Atlas mountains.

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

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A3 motorway, Agadir-Marrakesh

Financial

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Exit Distance Direction Roads
  Junction between A3 and A1 km 0 حد الســوالــم
الجـديـدة

Had Soualem
El Jadida
A1
الـربــاط
طـنـجـة
وجــدة

Rabat
Tanger
Oujda
  32  2 kilometres (1.2 mi) الـمـديـنـة الخـضـراء
بــوسـكــورة

Ville Verte
Bouskoura
P3011
  37  7 kilometres (4.3 mi) بـوسـكـورة
Bouskoura
P3013
  313  13 kilometres (8.1 mi) مطـار محمد الـخامـس  
Airport Mohammed V  
P3038
  Toll
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
15 kilometres (9.3 mi) Nouaceur toll station
  Toll (Casablanca - Agadir direction)
  321 
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
21 kilometres (13 mi) Berrechid toll station
شمـال بــرشـيــد
Berrechid North
N12
  Junction between A3 and A4 25 kilometres (16 mi) خـريـبــڭـة
بــنـي مــلال

Khouribga
Béni Mellal
A4
    Junction between A3 and
Tit Mellil-Berrechid expressway
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
Tit Mellil-Berrechid
expressway under construction
  332  32 kilometres (20 mi) جنوب بـرشـيــد
خـريـبــڭـة
بــنـي مــلال

Berrechid South
Khouribga
Béni Mellal
N12
   35 kilometres (22 mi) Service area
Berrechid
  352  52 kilometres (32 mi) شمال سطات
Settat North
P3606
  365  65 kilometres (40 mi) وسط سطات
البـــروج

Settat Center
El Borouj
R308
   75 kilometres (47 mi) Service area
Settat
  3104  104 kilometres (65 mi) مــشــرع بن عــبــو
Machraa Ben Abbou
P3503
  Oued 106 kilometres (66 mi) Oued Oum Rbia
   107 kilometres (66 mi) Service area
Oum Rbia
  3127  127 kilometres (79 mi) صخور الرحامنة
Skhour Rhamna
N9
   154 kilometres (96 mi) Service area
Ben Guerir
  3160  160 kilometres (99 mi) ابـن جــريــر
الــيــوسفـيـة
قـلـعـة الـسـراغـنـة

Ben Guerir
Youssoufia
El Kelaa des Sraghna
R206
  
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
194 kilometres (121 mi) Rest area
Sidi Bou Othmane
  
(Agadir - Casablanca direction)
Service area
Sidi Bou Othmane
  Junction between A3 and A301 198 kilometres (123 mi) مــراكـش الـنخـيـل
Marrakech Palmeraie
A301
  3214  214 kilometres (133 mi) مــراكـش تامنصورت
آســـفـــي
الـجـديــدة

Marrakech Tamansourt
Safi
El Jadida
N7
   228 kilometres (142 mi) Service area
Marrakech
  3232  232 kilometres (144 mi) مــراكـش تـارڭـة
Marrakech Targa
P2006
  3248  248 kilometres (154 mi) مـراكـــــش الاوداية
سـيدي الــزويــن

Marrakech Loudaya
Sidi Zouine
N8
   km 279 Service area
Chichaoua
  3282  282 kilometres (175 mi) شــيــشـاوة
الــصـويــرة
عبر الطريق السريع
Chichaoua
Essaouira per toll-free expressway
N8
  3310  310 kilometres (190 mi) إيـمـنـتانـوت
Imintanoute
N11
  Tunnel 325 kilometres (202 mi) Zaouiat Ait Mellal tunnel
   345 kilometres (214 mi) Service area
Imintanoute
  3370  370 kilometres (230 mi) أرڭـانـة
Argana
N11 P1713
  
(Casablanca - Agadir direction)
406 kilometres (252 mi) Service area
  Toll 419 kilometres (260 mi) Amskroud toll station
  3420  420 kilometres (260 mi) أمسـكــرود
تـارودانــت

Amskroud
Taroudannt
N11 R114A
   424 kilometres (263 mi) Service area
Amskroud
  Junction between A3 and N11A
End of expressway
429 kilometres (267 mi) أڭــاديــر
Agadir
N11A N1
 
Zaouiat Aït Mellal Tunnel

Sources and footnotes

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  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