SkyscraperCity Forum banner

[MS] Mauritius roads & motorways

26K views 30 replies 5 participants last post by  Will I am 
#1 ·




For a small island of 1 865 km2, there are 2 066 km of roads in Mauritius, of which 48.5% are main roads, 28.7% are secondary roads, 3.6% are motorways and the remaining 19.2% are made up of other types of roads. The number of vehicles per km of road is at 177 as of 2009.

Highways: Mauritius has only one highway. The highway starts from the airport situated in the South East of the Island and ends in the North of the Island at Grand Baie. There are no road tolls in Mauritius.

Speed limitation: Speed limitations are 40 km/h in agglomerations and 80 km/h on the main open roads. On the Mauritius highway the average speed limitation is 100 km/h and at some parts it is 110 km/h.

 
See less See more
3
#2 ·
Port Louis

Port Louis is the capital and largest city of the island nation with a population of 149,000. In 2009, due to growing road traffic congestion, consideration is being given to introducing a metro system. Port Louis is served by two major bus stations. Victoria Station is used by buses to and from the eastern and southern areas, and from the urbanized Plaines Wilhems district. Immigration Square, also known as Gare du Nord, is a terminus for buses coming from the Northern districts of Pamplemousses and Rivière du Rempart. Additionally, buses can use other bus stops as points of termination, e.g. John Kennedy Street and Sir William Newton Street for "City Centre" buses. A number of inter-city buses carry passengers to and from nearby suburbs such as Plaine Verte, Vallée-des-Prêtres and Cassis, making Port Louis the Mauritian hub for bus transport. This is not without problems. All major bus lines from the rest of Mauritius converge towards Port Louis, which creates traffic congestion issues when combined with the number of private cars doing the same. Both stations, Victoria and Immigration, are small and often saturated both in terms of passenger frequentation and number of buses arriving and departing. In addition, the presence of hawkers nearby and the absence of designated walking areas for passengers creates safety issues.





 
#13 ·
Toll roads in Mauritius

In an attempt to ease traffic congestion in Mauritius, the Road Development Authority (RDA)-the government agency responsible for the construction, maintenance and improvement of main roads in Mauritius- is implementing a project named as the Road Decongestion Program (RDP).

This has been deemed necessary as the severe morning and afternoon traffic jams have been estimated to cost the economy around Rs 2 billion annually.

The chief area of activities are concentrated within Port Louis with the roads from the South leading to it being the Motorway (M1) and the Port-Louis – St Jean Road (A1), and the roads from the North being the Motorway (M2) and the Port Louis Central Flacq Road (A2).

This limitation in accessibility is the principal reason for the congestion problems and under the RDP, new road networks will be established and the concept of “toll roads” will be introduced in the island.

Till now the fee amount has not yet been decided by the government. However, the Minister of Public Infrastructure and Transport, Anil Baichoo has announced that public transport and utility vehicles will be exempted from the charge. The toll will be introduced in places where alternate roads exist. Thus, drivers will be able to opt for the other way if they want to avoid the toll payment. Those who pass through the toll roads will benefit from a grant from the government.

The RDA has appointed the South African firm, SPP Project Solutions Private Ltd, as its Transaction Advisor. The latter has been given the responsibility of carrying out a feasibility study for the toll road project. Already 8 zones have been identified:

_ the Port-Louis Ring Road
_ the Harbour Bridge
_ the A1M1 Bridge
_ the Terre-Rouge-Verdun Link Road
_ the Verdun-Trianon Link Road
_ the highway between Bagatelle and Valentina
_ the highway M1 between Pont-Fer and Port-Louis
_ the highway M2 between Quai D and Terre-Rouge.
The Harbour Bridge project, also called "Dream Bridge"




Port Louis ringroad. The blue dotted line is the planned Dream Bridge while the green dotted line is the tunnel already under construction.

 
#16 ·
It's not really a surprise that Port Louis is congested, given that nearly the entire population has to use that single M2-M1 corridor through the city. Industry and other jobs are mainly north of the city center, while there is a significant suburban area south of it (the Plaines Wilhems District with 358,000 people, more than double that of Port Louis itself). There is no bypass.
 
#17 ·
^^ The Port Lous ringroad, actually under construction will help much to decongest traffic in the city, despite will be tolled. Unfortunately I can't find significant pics of the works they are doing, just few of bad quality.

Phoenix / Beaux Songes link road completed last year


Port Louis ring road works

Before


After
 
Top