M16 from Ceuta to Melilla - is it safe?
 

Does somebody know, if the new coastal road from Ceuta to Alhoceima and Nador-Melilla (N16) is safe (I mean, if there are some kind of problems with aggressive drug sellers like on the mountain road passing through Ketama)?

Has the road construction been already finished?

Very safe and a very dull drive, its a real feat of engineering but otherwise nothing special

About a year ago some 80km of the coastal highway from Oued Laou heading east was still being worked on with many sections of loose gravel. I guess it's finished by now.

The whole of the Rif and the inland route via Issaguen (wrongly called Ketama on the maps) is much easier since the King visited last year. I rode that route last May with practically zero hassle. Absolutely spectacular ride though probably slower than the coast road.

That section was all open in October 2012, we drove the length from Ras Kebdana to Oued Laou then headed inland before taking the piste over the mountain into Chefchaouen.

It is an amazing piece of enginnering and must be a nightmare to keep open with steep loose mountain straight into the med but I personally found the drive dull. That could have been partly due to it being on our way home.