Asian Highway Network

Map of the highways
Asian Highway 2 sign near Ratchaburi, Thailand

The Asian Highway (AH) project is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) to improve the highway systems in Asia. It is one of the three pillars of Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development (ALTID) project, endorsed by the ESCAP commission at its forty-eighth session in 1992, comprising Asian Highway, Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) and facilitation of land transport projects. The AH project was initiated by the United Nations in 1959 with the aim of promoting the development of international road transport in the region. During the first phase of the project (1960-1970) considerable progress was achieved, however, progress slowed down when financial assistance was suspended in 1975.

ESCAP has conducted several projects in cooperation with AH member countries step by step after the endorsement of ALTID in 1992.

The Intergovernmental Agreement on the Asian Highway Network (IGA) was adopted on November 18, 2003, by the Intergovernmental Meeting; the IGA includes Annex I, which identifies 55 AH routes among 32 member countries totalling approximately 87,500 miles (140,000 km), and Annex II "Classification and Design Standards". During the 60th session of the ESCAP Commission at Shanghai, China, in April 2004, the IGA treaty was signed by 23 countries. As of 2007, 28 countries were signatories.

Route AH1 is proposed to extend from Tokyo to the border with Bulgaria west of Istanbul and Edirne, passing through both Koreas, China and other countries in Southeast, Central and South Asia. The corridor is expected to improve trade links between East Asian countries, India and Russia. To complete the route, existing roads will be upgraded and new roads constructed to link the network. US$ 25 billion has been spent or committed as of 2007, with additional US$ 18 billion needed for upgrades and improvements to 26,000 km of highway.[1]

Contents

Route log

Single-digit routes run across the whole continent:

10-29 and 100-299 are assigned to South-East Asia:

30-39 and 300-399 are assigned to East Asia and North-East Asia:

40-59 and 400-599 are assigned to South Asia:

60-89 and 600-899 are assigned to North Asia, Central Asia and South-West Asia:

Distance by country

The planned network runs a total of 87799 miles (140,479 km).

See also

References

External links