Libyan Coastal Highway

In the First Libyan Civil War of 2011, the highway was a strategic and symbolic element, as the main route through the contested coastal region between Sirte and Benghazi.

There was an inscription at the top of the arch which read: Alme Sol, possis nihil urbe Roma visere maius (Latin for "Oh kind Sun, may you never look upon a city greater than Rome").

A railway was planned for the central section of the Litoranea Balbo parallel to the road, to connect Tripoli and Benghazi but little had been built before the outbreak of the Second World War stopped construction.

Before the 2011 Libyan civil war, the General People's Committee of Libya had issued an order for the Ras Ajdir—Sabratha section to be a dual carriageway road.

In the First Libyan Civil War of 2011 the highway was an active component for combat movement and skirmishes, and when a section's access and transit is under control - a strategic and symbolic element.

Map of the Cairo–Dakar Highway #1, with the Libyan Coastal Highway section, in the Trans-African Highway system.
Tripoli — Misrata double-highway section of the highway (2004)
The Via Balbia at the Marble Arch with German Panzer III tanks (1941)
The Arch of the Philaeni, March 1937
Course of the Litoranea Balbo and Libyan railways
Highway with bridge overpass entrance to the east of Bayda (2010)
Map of the central section of the highway in the Misrata — Sirte region of Tripolitania , and its junction with the northern end of Fezzan Road .