Lahore Motorway

  The M-2 Motorway or the Lahore Motorway is a north–south motorway in Pakistan, connecting Rawalpindi/Islamabad to Lahore, and is the first motorway to have been built in South Asia. The M-2 is 375 km long and located entirely in Punjab. It continues on to eventually become the M-1 Motorway, which terminates in Peshawar. The M-2 crosses the junction of M-4 (to Faisalabad) at Pindi Bhattian. The motorway is also a part of the Asian Highway AH1.

One of the most expensive motorways in Asia, it also has the one of the highest pillared-bridges in Asia at the Khewra Salt Range section.

There are ten service and rest areas on both sides of the whole lahore motorway, having facilities of Insta-fueling, Insta-Carwash, Insta-car repair and fast food restaurants such as KFC, McDonald's and Gloria Jean's Coffees among others.

In 2016, the entire motorway was re-carpeted and resurfaced - work that stretched over several months. New toll plazas have been installed on every interchange, and tolls are payable with a new M-tag system introduced in December 2021.

The M-2 was conceived by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in his first term (1990–1993). The contract was awarded to M/s Daewoo Corporation of South Korea on 30 December 1991 at a cost of Rs. 23.686 billion on a design-cum-construct basis. The original contract was for a four-lane facility.

Daewoo provided a loan of $379 million as supplier’s credit at Libor plus one interest to meet 40 per cent of the project cost, r payable in 21 semi-annual equal instalments. The loan was revised to $654 milliotion touched $702 million.

The motorway was inaugurated on November 26, 1997, during Sharif's second term. In late 2006, upgrades were made to the portion of the M-2 passing through the Salt Range due to increasing complaints of drivers. The upgrades included better marking of the road lines and increased size of road signs for easy visibility. In 2016, the M-2 motorway was resurfaced for a smooth and safer drive.