Tripoli-Windhoek (Cape Town) Highway

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Tripoli-Cape Town highway map.PNG

The Tripoli - Windhoek - ( Cape Town ) highway is No. 3 on the Trans-African Highways (TAH), an international network of highways developed by the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB) and the African Union . The 10,808 km route has the longest missing sections of all TAHs and requires the most road construction.

South Africa was not originally included on this route because of apartheid ; but now the extension to Cape Town has also been integrated. In some documents, however, this trunk road is still referred to as the "Tripoli-Windhoek Highway".

route

The route runs through Libya , Chad , Cameroon , the Central African Republic , the Republic of the Congo , the westernmost tip of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Angola , Namibia and South Africa . Only in Libya, Cameroon, Angola, Namibia and South Africa are there paved national roads that can serve as a route for the trunk road. At the moment there are only sand tracks from southern Libya through Chad to the vicinity of N'Djamena - more than 2000 km - and there is no path of any kind between Salo in the Central African Republic and Ouésso in the Republic of the Congo.

Northern part

The Tripoli-Windhoek (Cape Town) highway does not have a high priority in its northern section through the Sahara between Tripoli and N'Djamena, as the Trans-Sahara Highway (TAH 2) is more widely used further west as an alternative north-south route finds. Due to the instability in the border region between Libya and Chad, completion of the road is not in sight.

Middle part

The middle section from northern Angola to Cameroon is most needed, as it would be the first paved connection from West to South Africa and thus stimulate trade between these areas, which is currently only possible by air and sea. In fact, this section is completely missing and the planned route from the Central African Republic to the Republic of the Congo leads over very remote and difficult terrain, as well as through the rainforest in the Sangha Basin . In addition, this route would massively encroach on a relatively untouched natural area with a number of nature reserves.

An alternative route from Yaoundé in Cameroon to Brazzaville in the Republic of Congo, which would allow goods to be transported between the south and west of the continent and yet not interfere with nature as much, has already been proposed. It would pass through Lambaréné in Gabon and Dolisié in the Republic of the Congo. Traffic from the south would branch off at Yaoundé on the western part of the Lagos-Mombasa Highway, and traffic to the east and north would take the paved route from Yaoundé to Garoua-Boulai on the border between Cameroon and the Central African Republic. In addition to the shorter length for traffic from the south to the west, this route would have other advantages: it is already used to handle international traffic, it runs through more densely populated and economically more active areas, it would connect Gabon and, via the lane, its capital, Libreville, to the trunk road network and it would run near Mbini in Equatorial Guinea and the Atlantic ports of Douala and Pointe-Noire . In addition, a large part of this route is already paved.

Between Dolisié and Matadi there is a mostly paved alternative route through Pointe-Noir and Cabinda , which crosses the Congo on a bridge and not by ferry, as between Brazzaville and Kinshasa , but this is to be changed with the Brazzaville-Kinshasa bridge .

Southern part

The southern section between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cape Town is an important road for this region and is promoted by the South African Development Community (SADC) as it already has trade routes for this organization, such as the Trans-Caprivi Highway and the trade route from Walvis Bay to Maputo connects. The asphalting of existing roads in northern Angola is due, but from Ngage in Angola through Namibia (as B1 ) and South Africa (as N7 ) to Cape Town, the roads are all asphalted and in satisfactory to good condition.

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