N 4 (Senegal)

N 4 in Senegal
map
Basic data
Operator:	Senegal
Start of the street:	Diourbel , junction from the N 3
End of street:	south of Ziguinchor , border with Guinea-Bissau
Overall length:	337 km
	Diourbel region Fatick region Kaolack region Gambia (transit route) Sédhiou region Ziguinchor region
Requirement for use:	no
Course of the road Start in Diourbel on the N 3 (city center) Gossas Kaolack , in the city: (67)  West: N 1 to Mbour and Dakar (67)  East: N1 to Kaolack Airport and Tambacounda Saloum , on the south bank: (71)  West: N 5 to Sokone and Banjul (123)  Nioro du Rip Grand Bao Bolon (150)   Senegal / Gambia  Farafenni Ferry across the Gambia Soma (Gambia) (175)   Gambia / Senegal  (216)  Madina Wandifa Bounkiling Bignona , in the city: (290)  West: N 5 from Banjul Pont Émile Badiane over the Casamance Ziguinchor , in the city: (320)  West: Regional road to Oussouye and Cap Skirring East: N 6 to Kolda and Tambacounda Ziguinchor Airport Mpak , behind the place: (337)   Guinea-Bissau

End of the N4 at the Mpack - São Domingos border crossing (Guinea-Bissau)

The N 4 is one of the national roads from the west to the south of Senegal . Since it leads the traffic on the Trans-Gambia Highway through the transit country Gambia , it is also known as Trans- Gambienne .

The course of the road begins in the center of the city of Diourbel, which is centrally located in Senegal, at a junction from the N 3 . The route originally began further south in Kaolack , which has now become an important stage. The end of the N4 is in the southwest south of Ziguinchor on the border with Guinea-Bissau and the route up to then is 337 kilometers long. Without the 25-kilometer transit route in Gambia, it measures 312 kilometers.

The N4 is the shortest north-south connection from the heartland of Senegal to the fertile and relatively densely populated landscape of the Casamance, which is isolated south of Gambia . However, traffic on the transit route through the Gambia has to cross a state and customs border twice and is stopped by the Gambia , which can only be crossed by ferry and, since January 2019, on the Senegambia Bridge , which is subject to toll .

The road was built in the 1950s. Whether the long-distance traffic actually ran on the Transgambienne or whether it preferred the much longer bypass via Tambacounda in the east of the country on the N 1 and the N 6 , essentially depended on the political relations between Senegal and Gambia. When the Gambian transit fees increased a hundredfold overnight in early 2016, the Trans-Gambienne was downright boycotted. After the change of power in Gambia in 2017, the situation eased considerably.

The Dakar-Lagos Highway , one of the Trans-African Highways , runs over two sections of the N4 . The first section extends from the N1 in Kaolack to the junction of the N 5 on the left southern bank of the Saloum (4 km) and the second section extends from the confluence of the N5 in Bignona to the border to Guinea-Bissau (47 km). Between these two sections, the Dakar-Lagos Highway follows the course of the N5.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ N 4 on Google maps
2. ^ Editions Karthala, 2002. Le Sénégal contemporain; construction de la route transgambienne, p. 358 in the Google book search
3. ↑ On the Transgambienne it is 253 km from Kaolack to Ziguinchor, via Tambacounda it is 679 km.
4. ↑ Radio France Internationale (RFI) from April 12, 2016: Sénégal: le trafic routier vers la Casamance ne passe plus par la Gambie
5. ↑ Farafenni: le soleil online from February 27, 2017: Un vent nouveau souffle sur la Transgambienne