Hazara Motorway – Travel Guide 2024 

Hazara Motorway is an excellent alternative for those traveling to northern areas of Pakistan, for instance, Hunza Valley. A much better alternative is still the Naran-Babusar road which is only open for three to four months (June to September) due to extreme weather conditions. Hence this motorway will be the best option in the remaining eight months.

The previously busy Karakoram Highway (KKH) was a road with high traffic running through different towns and valleys mentioned below. The Hazara motorway easily saves above three hours in comparison to the Karakoram Highway up to Thakot.

Hazara Motorway (also known as M-15 Motorway) is a 180 kilometres motorway linking the Burhan Interchange near Hasan Abdal in Punjab to Thakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. It by-passes five major town/cities including Hassanabdal, Haripur, Havelian, Abbottabad, and Mansehra. However interchanges are available to enter/exit towns up to Mansehra. After Mansehra, the motorway passes through the towns of Shinkiari, and Battagram.

hazara motorway

Islamabad to Mansehra Section of Hazara Motorway

The motorway has six tunnels two at Abbottabad and one each at Battal, Karmong, Mansehra and Thakot. Up to Mansehra, its 39 km portion is six-lane controlled access portion while the remaining 79 km is four lane road. The road after Mansehra is a single road with two lanes. This two way road ideally should not have been classified as a “motorway”. The motorways are usually dual carriage, each with at least two lanes (total 4 lanes).

hazara motorway

Islamabad to Mansehra Section of Hazara Motorway

How to enter Hazara Motorway?

Burhan Interchange

The Hazara motorway begins at Burhan interchange which is situated on the Islamabad-Peshawar Motorway (M1).  The distance of major cities from Burhan interchange is given in the table below. 

Distance FromDistance ToDistance
IslamabadBurhan Interchange58 kilometers
PeshawarBurhan Interchange128 kilometers
LahoreBurhan Interchange392 kilometers
hazara motorway

A Bridge on Islamabad to Mansehra Section of Hazara Motorway

Distance from Islamabad to Tourist Spots via Hazara Motorway 

Tourist DestinationsDistance from IslamabadEstimated TimeInterchange on Hazara Motorway
Abbottabad 134 kms1hr 30minsAbbottabad Interchange
Naran Kaghan283 kms6hrs 30minsMansehra Interchange
Babusar Pass 348 kms8 hrsMansehra Interchange
Raikot (for fairy meadows) 439 kms11hrs 30 minsMansehra Interchange
Gilgit
517 kms12hrs 30 minsMansehra Interchange
Hunza602 kms14hrs 30minsMansehra Interchange
Skardu 639 kms18hrsMansehra Interchange

 

hazara motorway

Karmong Tunnel No.1 on the Motorway

Tunnels on the Motorway

There are a total of six tunnels starting from Abbottabad to Battal. Tunnels have light, fire extinguishers, telephone booths, emergency lanes, etc. Given below are the lengths of all the tunnels on Hazara Motorway.

Hazara Motorway TunnelsLength
Abbottabad Tunnel 1 1,720 meters
Abbottabad Tunnel 22, 390 meters
Mansehra Tunnel 2,528 meters
Karmong Tunnel 442 meters
Battal Tunnel 2,906 meters
Thakot Tunntel 615m
hazara motorway

One of the Six Tunnels on Hazara Motorway

Pictures/Photos of the Motorway

Map of Hazara Motorway

The map below highlights districts, tehsils, national highways, motorways, interchange, tunnels, etc.

hazara motoroway map

Hazara Motorway Map

 

Latest Updates/News 2024

The motorway is financed by the Asian Development Bank, along with a ₨10.021 billion (US$71 million) grant from the United Kingdom.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Pin It on Pinterest