It extends from Umm Qasr Port in Basra to Ar Rutba in Anbar, where it spreads into a new freeway with same number towards Syria and Jordan.

After a visit to the United States in 1983, Saddam Hussein was fascinated by the extensive Interstate and Highway network in the USA and wanted a similar endeavour for Iraq.

In the following years, multiple smaller branch freeways were constructed alongside the main route 1 like the M31 linking Central Basra and the M97 Central Baghdad to the M1.

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