Highway 65 (Saudi Arabia)


Highway 65 is a major north-south controlled-access highway in central Saudi Arabia, spanning 1,376 km. Popularly known as the Riyadh–Qassim Highway, Highway 65 connects Hawtat Bani Tamim to Qurayyat and further to the Al Hadithah border with Jordan, while providing connections to or passing through Riyadh, Majma'ah, al-Ghat, Zulfi, Buraidah, 'Unaizah, ar-Rass, Ha'il, Daumat al-Jandal, Sakaka and other smaller villages and towns. It also provides access to the Naisiyah Wildlife Reserve, Khanafah Wildlife Sanctuary, Tubaiq Natural Reserve and Harrat al Harrah Conservation. The highway is an important route within Saudi Arabia, acting as both a connector highway and a major highway on its own. Highway 65 also forms a part of the southern portion of the Riyadh beltway.
's beltway and also passes through the city, straddling the King Abdullah Financial District, the Kingdom Center and Al Faisaliyah Center.
The highway consists of three traffic lanes with a shoulder on each side separated by a median strip. All intersections on the highway are grade separated, largely cloverleaf interchanges with some other types of interchanges used for U-turns or desert access roads. The highway has no bridges and tunnels as it traverses the Najd plateau and Nafud desert. The road is operated by the Saudi Ministry of Transport and is not tolled.
In conjunction with the Kingdom's five-year plans, the Saudi Ministry of Transport prepared its own comprehensive plan, known as the Five-Year Road Programme. The first of these began in 1970 and the system is still implemented today. The Kharj–Qassim was the first portion of the highway to built and was modernized during the Third Development Plan. The rest of the highway began construction much later, in the Seventh Development Plan and completed in the Eighth Development Plan. The road was also commissioned much later than most Saudi roads.

Route description

The highway begins at Kharj, and goes through Riyadh, where it intersects Highway 40, at Rabat Square. After Riyadh, it leads to Al-Qassim Province, where it runs concurrently with Highway 60 from the exit to Highway 535 near Al Ghat for approximately 54 kilometres after which they are separated by an interchange. It also runs concurrently with Highway 80 from an interchange near Radifah to an interchange near Abu Ajram. It then leads to Highway 70 at Ha'il and ends near the Al Hadithah/Al Omari border with Jordan after Qurayyat.

History