Cairo–Dakar Highway

The Cairo -Dakar Highway is a section of the Trans - African Highways ( TAH ) 1 in the international highway network, which was developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ( UNECA ), the African Development Bank ( ADB) and the African Union. Most of the highway between Tripoli and Nouakchott was constructed under the auspices of the Arab Maghreb Union.

Location

The Cairo -Dakar Highway has a length of 8636 km and runs along the Mediterranean coast of North Africa and then continues along the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa. Most of the route is completely paved. In 2005, the last major section between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou in Mauritania has been completed, it lacks only a 4 km long piece in no man's land between the border posts controlled by Morocco and Western Sahara to the Mauritanian border, where only one lane in the desert there. It is connected with the Dakar - Lagos Highway ( TAH 7) and thus forms between Rabat and Monrovia, a north- south route through the Sahara along the west coast of the continent.

Since 1994, the border between Morocco and Algeria is completely closed, so that the Cairo -Dakar Highway along its whole length is not passable.