Cairo Ring Road

Cairo Ring Road
Highway system
Transport in Egypt

The Cairo Ring Road is the most important freeway of the Greater Cairo metropolitan area in Egypt. The ring road encircles large parts of the cities of Cairo and Giza including Cairo International Airport.

Construction began in the late 1980s. It was originally planned to surround the greater Cairo region in 3 of its 4 sides, but part of the road remains unbuilt because the original route took it very near the Giza pyramids, an area which has been on the UNESCO's World Heritage List since 1979. It had two purposes: stopping the urbanization of arable lands, and reducing Cairo's traffic.

In the early 2000s planning for a regional ring road commenced, enclosing the larger metropolitan area including El Shorouk, New Cairo and Helwan in the Cairo Governorate, Obour in the Qalyubia Governorate and 6th of October in the Giza Governorate, with some 200 kilometers of the eastern and southern part of the regional ring road finished.

There were three master plans for the urban development of Cairo, in 1956, 1970 and 1983. Ring Road first appeared in the second plan as a beltway encompassing 3 of the 4 sides of the Greater Cairo region, and linking all the 16 administrative regions that the plan created. In the third master plan, approved in 1984 under the government of Hosni Mubarak and in collaboration with France, it appeared as a 73 km (45 mi) long beltway. It would connect the new 16 administrative regions of the city and would isolate them from the rural areas.

It was left unfinished due to part of the road passing too near the Pyramids of Giza (see other section in this article). The Egyptian government planned to close it by building a road over the Marioteya waterway.

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Wikipedia