Highway 65 (Saudi Arabia)

Highway 65
Route information
Length	1,427 km (887 mi)
Major junctions
South end	Highway 10 near Howtat Bani Tamim
Major intersections	Highway 40 in Riyadh Highway 50 in Al Majma'ah Highway 65 in Buraidah Highway 75 near Ha'il Highway 80 near Sakakah Highway 85 in Qurayyat
North end	Highway 30 at the Jordanian border at Al Hadithah
Location
Country	Saudi Arabia
Major cities	Riyadh. Buraidah, Ha'il, Sakakah
Highway system
Transport in Saudi Arabia

Highway 65 (Arabic: الطريق السريع ٦٥) is a major north–south controlled-access highway in central Saudi Arabia, spanning 1,427 km (887 mi). Popularly known as the Riyadh–Qassim Expressway, Highway 65 connects Howtat 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, Sakakah and other smaller villages and towns.^[1] It also provides access to the Naisiyah Wildlife Reserve, Khanafah Wildlife Sanctuary, Tubaiq Natural Reserve, and the Harrat al-Harrah Conservation.

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 relatively flat 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 be built and was modernized during the Third Development Plan (1980–85). The rest of the highway began construction much later, in the Seventh Development Plan (2000–05) and completed in the Eighth Development Plan (2005–10). The road was also commissioned much later than most Saudi highways.^[2]