The Trans-Sahelian Highway or TAH 5 is a transnational
highway project to
pave, improve and ease border formalities on a highway route through the southern fringes of the
Sahel region in
West Africa between
Dakar,
Senegal in the west and
Ndjamena,
Chad, in the east. Alternative names for the highway are the Dakar-Ndjamena Highway or Ndjamena-Dakar Highway and it is Trans-African Highway 5 in the
Trans-African Highway network.
The highway passes through seven countries and five national capitals, and links regions of similar climate and environment which have cultural and trade links going back centuries. It is one of two east–west transnational links in West Africa and runs inland from and, for most of its length, roughly parallel to the
Trans–West African Coastal Highway with a separation of about 900 km (559 mi).
Route and status
Overall features, length and condition
The Trans-Sahelian Highway has a length of about 4,500 km (2,800 mi) running through Senegal,
Mali,
Burkina Faso,
Niger,
Nigeria, and the far northern tip of
Cameroon, ending at
N'Djamena just inside the western border of
Chad. All but about 775 km (482 mi), mostly in western Mali, has been paved, but extensive sections elsewhere require rehabilitation or are currently under reconstruction. Most of the route uses existing national highways, but an optional route requires construction of a completely new road between Senegal and Mali.
Detail of sections
The cities and countries served, and status of the road are as follows (going east):
In Senegal, Dakar to
Tambacounda, 462 km (287 mi), paved, 315 km (196 mi) in poor condition; this road has been
paved for several decades.
Linking Senegal and Mali between Tambacounda and
Bamako, two options were proposed in the 2005 consultants' report[1]
a shorter more direct southern route via Saraya and
Kita, about 825 km (513 mi), using about 300 km (186 mi) of road paved in the 1990s of which most was in good condition, and requiring construction of 345 km (214 mi) of new road and the paving of 180 km (112 mi) of earth road;
a longer northern route of about 910 km (565 mi) via
Kayes, Diéma and Didjeni, utilising national roads of Mali which are paved.
In south-eastern Mail, Bamako to
Sikasso via
Bougouni, 374 km (232 mi), paved before 1990 and in fair condition.
Sikasso to Koloko at the Burkina Faso border, paved and in fair condition.
Burkina Faso section: 862 km (536 mi) via
Bobo-Dioulasso,
Ouagadougou,
Koupéla, and Fada Ngourma, paved and in good condition except for 120 km (75 mi) paved section before the Niger border, due to be rehabilitated in 2003–5;
Niger section: 837 km (520 mi) of which 600 km (373 mi) was in poor condition, via
Niamey,
Dosso,
Dogondoutchi,
Birnin-Konni and
Maradi to the Nigerian border at Jibiya.
Nigeria section: 972 km (604 mi), all paved and in fair condition, via
Katsina,
Kano, Kari,
Maiduguri and Dikwa.
The short Cameroon section consists of an 85 km (53 mi) unpaved gravel road from the Nigerian border to Maltam which is impassable in the
wet season; as this road is not used by local traffic to any extent, Cameroon has no plans to upgrade it. The 25 km (16 mi) section from Maltam to
Kousseri at the Chad border is paved and is used mainly by Chadian traffic.
Chad: the highway is fairly complete except for the last 150 km from Abeche to the Sudanese border town of Adre and a small gap within the city limits of Mongo. It is in need of some maintenance in some areas as the surface has become broken up. There is regular bus service from the capital NDjamena to Abeche every day.
Alternative routes at the eastern end:
the alternative to the unpaved section through Cameroon is a route which adds about 200 km (124 mi) on paved roads via Bama in Nigeria and
Mora and Waza in Cameroon.
an alternative route of about 1,400 km (870 mi) between Niger and Chad, by-passing Nigeria, will be possible when a proposed new road around the north and east of
Lake Chad is built connecting Ndjamena to
Nguigmi which is about 60 km (37 mi) inside Niger. Nguigmi is connected by a paved road via
Zinder to Maradi where it meets the Trans-Sahelian Highway.
TAH 6 (
N'Djamena–Djibouti Highway) in N'Djamena, with which it will form a complete east–west crossing of the continent of 8,715 km (5,415 mi).
The northern regions of
Guinea,
Côte d'Ivoire,
Ghana,
Togo, and
Benin are close to the Trans-Sahelian Highway, which may be used to by travellers between those regions in preference to the
Trans–West African Coastal Highway further south. Paved roads connect the Trans-Sahelian and West African Coastal Highways through
Côte d'Ivoire (Sikassa or Bobo-Dioulasso to
Yamoussoukro)