Dakar-N'Djamena Highway

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Dakar-Ndjamena Highway Map.PNG

The Dakar-N'Djamena-Highway is an international highway project that deals with the asphalting and improvement of the road connection through the southern part of the Sahel in West Africa between Dakar in Senegal in the west and N'Djamena in Chad in the east and with the simplification of border formalities deals. Other names of this highway are N'Djamena-Dakar-Highway , Trans-Sahel-Highway and Trans-Sahelian Highway . It is number 5 in the network of Trans-African Highways .

The trunk road passes through seven states and five capital cities, connecting areas of similar climates and environments that have been culturally and commercially linked for centuries. It is one of the two international east-west connections in West Africa and runs inland almost parallel to the Dakar-Lagos Highway (TAH 7) at a distance of about 900 km.

Together with the N'Djamena-Djibouti Highway (TAH 6), this road forms an east-west connection across the African continent with a total length of 8,715 km.

Route and condition

Length and general condition

The Dakar-N'Djamena Highway has a length of about 4500 km and runs through Senegal, Mali , Burkina Faso , Niger , Nigeria and the northernmost tip from Cameroon to N'Djamena just behind the western border of Chad. Almost the entire route up to around 775 km in western Mali is paved, but large parts urgently need a revision or are being restored at the moment. Most of the trunk road runs on the route of existing national roads, but the alternative route between Senegal and Mali must be completely rebuilt.

The sections in detail

The cities and states that the road runs through and their condition are as follows (from west to east):

  • In Senegal, from Dakar to Tambacounda on the N 1 , 462 km, asphalt, 315 km in poor condition; this section has been paved for decades.
  • Connection between Senegal and Mali between Tambacounda and Bamako ; There are two possibilities here that the documents from 2003 suggest:
    • a shorter route in the south via Saraya and Kita , about 825 km, about 300 km of asphalt road in good condition in the 1990s, 525 km of new road built after 2003 (RN24 in Mali);
    • a longer northern route of about 910 km via Kayes , Diéma and Didjeni
  • In the southwest of Mali, from Bamako to Sikasso via Bougouni , 374 km, asphalted before 1990 and in good condition;
  • From Sikasso to Koloko on the border to Burkina Faso, 50 km of mud track that would have to be replaced by a new road;
  • The section in Burkina Faso: 862 km via Bobo-Dioulasso , Ouagadougou , Koupéla and Fada N'Gourma , asphalted and in good condition up to 120 km from the border with Niger, revised between 2003 and 2005;
  • Section in Niger: 837 km, 600 km of which are in poor condition, via Niamey , Dosso , Dogondoutchi , Birni-N'Konni and Maradi to the Nigerian border in Jibiya .
  • Section in Nigeria: 972 km, paved throughout and in satisfactory condition, via Katsina , Kano , Kari , Maiduguri and Dikwa .
  • The short section in Cameroon consists of 85 km of gravel road from the Nigerian border to Maltam , which is impassable in the rainy season; Since this road is not used by national traffic at all, Cameroon is not planning any improvement in conditions. The 25 km long section from Maltam to Kousséri on the border with Chad is paved and is mainly used by traffic in and out of Chad.
  • In Chad: the trunk road leads only a few kilometers into Chad to the suburbs of the capital N'Djamena on the east bank of the Logone and the Shari , which form the border between Cameroon and Chad.

Alternative routes in the eastern part:

  • The alternative to the unpaved road section in Cameroon is a route about 200 km longer on paved roads via Bama in Nigeria, Mora and Waza in Cameroon.
  • An alternative route of around 1400 km between Niger and Chad, bypassing Nigeria, will be possible as soon as the planned road in the north and east of Lake Chad , which connects N'Djamena with N'Guigmi and runs around 60 km within Niger. N'Guigmi is connected by a paved road via Zinder to Maradi, where it meets the Dakar-N'Djamena Highway.

Feeder roads

The northern regions of Guinea , Ivory Coast , Ghana , Togo and Benin are close to the Dakar-N'Djamena Highway, which residents of these regions prefer to use than the Dakar-Lagos Highway further south. Asphalt roads connect the Dakar-N'Djamena-Highway with the highways on the west coast.

  • Ivory Coast: from Sikassa or Bobo-Dioulasso to Yamoussoukro ;
  • Ghana: from Ouagadougou to Accra ;
  • Togo: from Koupéla to Lomé ;
  • Benin: from Dosso to Cotonou ;
  • Nigeria: from Birni-N'Konni or Kano to Lagos .

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