THE STORY OF THE TAPLINE ROAD

When construction of the Trans-Arabian Pipe Line began in Saudi Arabia in late 1947, it was preceded by the construction of a road parallel to and approximately 100 meters north of the pipe line. This road was built not only to facilitate the transportation of the hundreds of thousands of tons of pipe and other materials which had to be moved across the desert, but also to serve as an access and supply road during later operation of the pipe line, as well as a means of providing protection to the pipe line by Government security forces.

Initially it was feared that it would be difficult to find suitable road building materials near the road location, and that it would therefore be necessary to stabilize the road with an asphalt surface. However, the road building crews had the good fortune to find adequate deposits of decomposed limestone and marl near the road location throughout most of its length. These deposits formed an excellent road base as well as a stable surface, and permitted construction of a good road which served the purposes for which it was constructed very satisfactorily. The movement of thousands of heavy loads of pipe and other materials on trucks equipped with large, low-pressure tires served to stabilize and compact the road, to form a very strong base.

This road provided a new overland shortcut for the movement of goods from Lebanon, Syria and Jordan to the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, as well as to Riyadh. Shortly after its completion commercial trucks began to appear on the pipe line road, and within a short time the use of the road by commercial