Lagos-Mombasa Highway

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Lagos-Mombasa Highway map.PNG

The Lagos - Mombasa -Highway - even Mombasa-Lagos highway - is the Trans-African Highway No. 8 and the main road between West and East Africa.. It is 6,259 km long and connects to the Dakar-Lagos Highway (TAH 7). When both highways are completed, they will be the longest east-west link across the African continent with a total length of 10,269 km.

route

As part of the transcontinental highway network being developed by the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the African Union , the route crosses Nigeria , Cameroon , the Central African Republic , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Uganda and Kenya .

The crossing of the Congo Basin

This highway is very busy on the paved sections of road in Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Kenya. In the middle section through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, however, it is currently not proving to be a practicable route between East and West Africa, as it consists only of unpaved sections that are temporarily impassable due to the frequent, heavy rains due to mud. The rainforest and the need for frequent river crossings pose major problems for road builders. There are no easier alternative routes and so east-west trade has to be carried out by air or sea, which greatly limits it.

The highway was supposed to go from Bangassou in the Central African Republic via Bondo to Buta in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but after the civil war in the Congo this stretch is impassable. The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo recommends using the lane from Zongo (across the Bangui River ) via Gemena , Lisala and Bumba to Buta, which has already been better repaired.

In the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the route leads from Kisangani via Beni to the Ugandan border in Katwe . This mud runway is also often impassable. The longer route from Kisangani to the border with Rwanda in Bukavu on the route of the Congolese national road 3 would be more recommendable as it is partly paved, but it has not been used south of Walikal since the civil war .

An asphalt road leads from Bukavu to Kigali in Rwanda and connects to the completed road section in Mbarara in Uganda.

The Great Lakes area and the eastern part

The eastern part of the Lagos-Mombasa Highway has been paved for decades and is the main route between the African Great Lakes and the coast.

The road from Bujumbura in Burundi via Kigali to Mbarara can be seen as a feeder from the landlocked states of Burundi and Rwanda to the Indian Ocean in Mombasa.

Since road traffic is severely restricted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the eastern part of the road is also the most important trade route for the center, east and northeast of the Congo. After the second civil war in the Congo, aid organizations also use this connection to transport their aid deliveries there.

The eastern stretch of the road is also likely the origin of the term "Kinshasa Highway" for the spread of HIV along the trade routes investigated along the highways in Uganda and Kenya. Some sources also described the Kinshasa Highway as a paved link between Uganda and Kinshasa , but the Democratic Republic of the Congo has never seen more than bush trails between east and west.

The eastern part of the Lagos-Mombasa Highway is the only part of the entire African highway network in which the name Trans-African Highway is commonly used and is also used on some road signs.

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