The majority of Namibia's current paved network was built under the South African administration and their signage and markings are the same. They are now simply carried over to the new government after independence.
Those Trans-African Highways are not "highways" in the sense that many Europeans like to use the word. Very small portions of a few of them (in South Africa, Namibia, Morocco and Egypt, for instance) are motorways, but the majority are either paved two lane single carriageways, unpaved single carriageways or not even built at all yet. I think Africa would be lucky to get all of those highways built and paved within twenty years or so, although ultimately I'd like to see them all built to motorway standard and without border controls, like many roads in Europe - this definitely won't happen for at least half a century, though, probably more if it ever happens at all. hno:
^^ You really haven't heard from Namibia? Well, it's a very large country, but almost never on the news.
Namibia is actually one of the higher income countries in Africa, though their income inequality is very high and unemployment is also extremely high, but this also takes rural people into account who don't need money or an income to live.
Sure I've heard about Namibia, but I would not be able to locate it in Africa, I would not recall it's capital, I don't know anything about it's history, I don't know any product coming from there... there's just no relation with my country.. I guess we don't import anything from Namibia, we don't export anything to Namibia, most people do not tend to travel to Namibia... I don't want do degrade that country, just to point out that there are countries in the world (especially in Africa) that we dont know anything about. Usually, when I hear a name of a country, I'm able to recall at least something special about that country... but Namibia...? Just nothing.
It has a 2x2 grade-separated bypass. Though Namibia has only like 2 million inhabitants, so they don't need any large roads. Paved roads to the largest places is enough.
It's because most of the country is either desert or semi-desert - the Atlantic doesn't bring any rainfall whatsoever, being a cold water current in that part of the world, and too far north for any winter cold fronts from Antarctica to have any effect.
If I'm not mistaken, the Namib desert is the world's oldest.
Namibia population density is 2.5 inhabitants/km², that is comparable with Australia (2.6), and only Mongolia has less (1.7). Namibia capital Windhoek has 250,000 inh, so as the chris said, only "motorway" in namibia is that 16 km stretch of B1 round and north of Windhoek. Here is a second ground pic, but due its poor quality it is hard to see opposite direction on it.
i'm kinda bored at work so here's my contribution to topic
all pics are from GE since there aren't much information on web...
wide pic of main roads in Windhoek...
orange line is full-profile motorway...
light blue lines are main roads (on my opinion)...
purple circle seems like a construction site, i'll post close-up picture below...
some intersection pictures are already on first post so i'm just going to put some interesting things i've found surfing on GE...
surprisingly i found impressive condition of roads, at least main roads...
and this seems like a new overpass currently in construction... my prediction is that motorway will expand from existing one towards south under this bridge and further to border...
there are few more places that seems to be in construction process, but nothing worth of mentioning...
If there is any nation that has had influence on the signs in Namibia and other Southern African nations, it's South Africa. Neighbouring nations have pretty much copied it (even though that may not have been voluntary in the case of Namibia, as it was de faco controlled by the Apartheid regime).
Anyway, South African signs used to be in Interstate in the past, but they switched to DIN 1451. Think that was somewhere in the 1980s. The neighbouring countries have since followed.
Ehm, even on that basis I see a definite merge into the overtaking lane and an exit from the overtaking lane. But it looks like they had to do it here, but there was no room for a standard cloverleaf. And probably not enough traffic for flyovers, which is probably also the reason why this intersection doesn't pose too many problems.
Fair enough. You'd have to take that turn at rather low speed and you will have to accelerate quickly before merger into the overtaking lane. Or, when taking the exit from the overtaking lane, you have to break seriously.
^^ Wasn't the road in Mauritania between Nouakchott and Nouadhibou paved recently? And I doubt all these unpaved roads are even passable, especially in the equatorian Africa. Particularly bad "roads" can be found in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ironically, where Africa is "widest" (in the center), it's hardest to pass.
And I doubt all these unpaved roads are even passable, especially in the equatorian Africa. Particularly bad "roads" can be found in the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ironically, where Africa is "widest" (in the center), it's hardest to pass.
There are some gaps, particularly on Trans-African Highway 3. I think Highway 1 is the closest to being fully paved, though personally I would love to see Highway 4 completed, as it is the epitomic Cape to Cairo road proposed by British colonists more than a century ago. It has the potential to become a reality fairly soon, too, if Egypt and Sudan can settle their differences and build a road across their border.
I think it would be great for Highway 1 and either Highway 3 or Highway 4 to be completed, in conjunction with the proposed Strait of Gibraltar crossing and the developing Asian Highway network, as this would eventually provide a paved road link between Cape Town and Beijing/Hong Kong. Now that would be an awesome road trip! :cheers:
Elephants and giraffes would have to be my favourite African animals!
Going back to the conversation about knowing something about Namibia (now a year old..) I know that Namibia have fielded teams in rugby and cricket world cups.
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