For a nation whose wealth is founded on the rest of the world's insatiable need for motor transport, Saudi Arabia's road network has taken a long time to grow. Much of the reason for that is the lay of the land. With the interior of the country dominated by desert, high mountains in the west and the sheer distances to be crossed by road builders, any significant road project immediately becomes a major challenge.

Yet the obvious advantages of roads have driven Saudi engineers and their overseas partners to tackle the terrain. Minister of Communications Dr. Nasser Al-Salloum says that in the early 1950s there were only 150 miles of paved roads — now the spreading fingers of the road network touch ever more remote sites and asphalt roads total more than 28,000 miles. Work is continuing to expand the network, the minister says, adding that these are not just bare highways — care has also been taken to ensure that rest areas, fuel stops and police cover are all provided.

Much of the road-building effort centers on avoiding clots in the circulation at the cities. Alleviating the congestion and pollution has driven the construction of ring roads, over and underpasses. The emphasis is on smoothing the flow and avoiding the gridlock that hampers the economies of so many cities.

Although one might expect to find such schemes in the modern cities, it is perhaps out in the country where Saudi road-building projects are at their most remarkable. The major cities are linked by expressways of up to eight lanes, crossing hundreds of miles of desert. Lower-scale road-building means that remote agricultural communities also have access to the network, essential if raw materials and supplies are to go in and food is to get to wider markets. In the mountains, great viaducts skim the peaks, providing breathtaking drives as well as linking previously inaccessible communities to the national network. Another spectacular incarnation of Saudi commitment to road building and to the ingenuity of the country's engineers is the 16-mile King Fahd causeway. Since its completion in the mid 1980s this four-lane expression of national will in concrete has provided an essential day-to-day link between Saudi cities and the financial and business center of Bahrain, lying offshore.

As part of the government's declared aim to promote economic activity and employment among Saudi citizens, much of the road-building activity is now in the hands of homegrown companies rather than the international contractors responsible for the earlier stages. Among such contractors there is pressure to employ more Saudis. Masco, a leading contractor, for example, now employs more than 1000 Saudi citizens, meeting the government target of 15 percent of the workforce. However, the company's general manager, Ali M. Al-Swailem, reports a reluctance among Saudi workers to engage in field construction activities. The company's 1.5 billion Riyals ($400 million) in projects still provides major employment for an international workforce.

Contractors are selected for projects against a strict grading system, from the major nationally important schemes (Grade 1) to local, small-scale maintenance (Grade 5). Qualification is according to capability and quality standards. Masco, for instance is considered to be Grade 1 for maintenance, and Grade 2 for road-building.

At another major contracting company, Shibh Al Jazira Contracting, chief engineer Wahbi M.W. Suleiman stresses the importance of international cooperation. "We are highly interested in international participation and have already had many joint ventures with companies from Europe, America and elsewhere." The company is about to open an office in Houston, Texas. Shibh Al Jazira is one of 15 Grade 1 companies in the Kingdom and as well as highways, the company has built 25 to 30 dams and was heavily involved in the construction of the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

Certainly, road builders in Saudi are not just single-focus enterprises: each has recognized a need to diversify to provide a wide base for the days when road expansion slows. Shibh Al Jazira has trading and commercial arms, while one Masco partner company is the largest dates producer in the world and another runs a drinking water and beverage factory. In addition Masco has formed a US-Saudi joint venture to produce fiber-optic cables.

Yet, as well as private car use and commercial traffic, all this road-building activity has also opened up low-cost public transport options. Under the auspices of the Saudi Public Transport Company (SAPTCO) there is now a national bus service linking the major cities. The service continues to expand, modernize its vehicles and works hard each year to meet the immense demand at times of pilgrimage — more than 2,000 buses are allocated to carry the faithful to and from Makkah and Madinah.

Saudi Arabia today offers the smart sedan driver simple access to areas formerly available only to the most courageous off-roader. This successful application of asphalt to desert and mountain is a measure not just of a nation's desire to modernize but also of the value of investment in the arteries of growth.

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