Route 1 (Oman)

Route 1 (Arabic: طريق ١) also known as the Sultan Qaboos Street or Al Batinah Highway is a major four-lane highway in the Sultanate of Oman, connecting Muscat, the capital city in the Sultanate and a hub for commercial activity, to the many coastal cities of Oman that sit alongside the Sea of Oman such as Seeb and Sohar. It also connects Muscat to the United Arab Emirates.

Route description
Route 1 begins in Muttrah which contains many important ministry buildings and most prominently the parliament building called Majlis Oman. After the roundabout it goes through the Muttrah Corniche. After the Corniche it goes through two roundabouts and then splits into two; one goes to the root of the city of Ruwi while the other continues straight passing through the suburbs of Qurum. Both roads merge becoming a six-lane highway and leaves westward. From there the route continues crossing through many cities and the Muscat International Airport. After entering province of Seeb the route becomes a four-lane highway and staying like so until the end of the route. After entering the Governorate of South Al Batinah the route starts to have oval-shaped landmark roundabouts and typically from this part of the route all the way to the border crossing the route is called Al Batinah Highway. Through South Al Batinah the route passes through many important and big cities such as Barka and Al Suwaiq. From there, the route continues through the Governorate of North Al Batinah passing through many major cities such as the city of Saham and the city of Sohar all the way to the border crossing of Khatmat Malaha.

History
Route 1 opened in 1974 becoming one of the first major highways in Oman as during this time Oman was going through major changes as change of sultans meant the country was undergoing modernization by the late Qaboos bin Said and one of his first projects to be completed was to connect the country via a road network. Route 1 was the first one to be completed, going from the capital of Muscat all the way to the border of the United Arab Emirates while passing through very important and historical cities such as Sohar and Seeb. After Route 1 was opened the cities that the route passed on experienced massive growth as the highway became the epicenter of Oman.

In the mid-2000s, many landmark roundabouts in the Muscat section of the route were changed to traffic light junctions to improve traffic flow.