[TCH] Chad | road infrastructure

It turns out that Chad has more paved roads than most statistics indicate. The general idea was that Chad had only a few hundred kilometers of paved road, but this is likely considerably more.

Trans-Africa Highway 6 is the main east-west route of the country, it is paved over a distance of 900 kilometers from N'Djamena to Abeche. However the paved road takes a more southerly route than most maps indicate.

Satellite images from 2013-2014 show a relatively modern road: a wide paved road with lane markings. In this part of Africa that usually means that it has recently been built new (or maintained).

This is the paved road:


An example of satellite imagery. It shows lane markings, arrows to end a passing zone before a curve, as well as culverts. This is an indication that it has been properly designed and built. This is approximately 80 kilometers east of Mongo.


Another example shows lane markings, proper drainage & tracks next to the paved road, this may indicate that it was recently built. The satellite image is from 2012 and is approximately 40 kilometers east of Oum Hadjer.

I've been digging a little deeper in the Chadian history of road development. This 2017 report about the Trans-Sahara Highway has a lot of interesting historic facts: https://clrtafrique.com/4.Tchad-II-16-p-Historique.pdf

When Chad became independent in 1960, it had 0 kilometers of paved roads. Paving roads began in 1972, with three roads in N'Djamena, as well as two national roads, N'Djamena - Massaguet (80 km) and N'Djamena - N'Guelengdeng (150 km). These paved roads were built by the French company Colas.

Road development was pretty minimal since, some sources indicate that Chad had 30 kilometers of paved roads in 1987. Considering the 1972 road paving, it was likely closer to 250 kilometers. However they also noted that these paved roads were in very poor condition and were rehabilitated in the late 1980s.

A road fund was established in 2000, it also provided the option to collect tolls. Tolls were first collected in Chad in 2005. The 2017 report indicated that 19 toll points existed at that time, with a 70-100 km interval between toll collection points.

The report is mostly about a paved road around Lake Chad, to link Chad to Niger. This route is a branch route of the Trans-Sahara Highway (which is Algiers - Lagos, not Tripoli - N'Djamena). This branch route follows Nigerien N1 from Zinder to N'Guigmi on the northwest side of Lake Chad. Satellite images confirm that a paved road was built / under construction in 2020 around the north side of Lake Chad.

A new bridge is under construction across the Chari River in N'Djamena. It also includes a wide road (c. 30 m) which would connect to the border crossing to Cameroon.

The existing bridge is the Pont de Chagoua, which was completed in 1959. Apparently it was the only modern infrastructure asset ever built in Chad during French colonial times. When Chad became independent, it had 0 kilometers of paved roads, including in the capital N'Djamena.

I found this 2017 map of Chad.

The legend:

• blue: national roads with asphalt pavement
• green: national roads being paved
• brown: national roads, unpaved
• Blue dashed: seasonal roads (unpaved)

Chad road map by European Roads, on Flickr



The paved road length was 2,300 kilometers in 2016. This is up from 350 kilometers in 2000. Especially in 2006-2010 they paved a lot of roads, with over 400 kilometers in peak year 2010.

Newly paved roads by year:

Here's a map of Fort-Lamy in 1962 (the city is now known as N'Djamena). Higher resolution is available.


Fort-Lamy 1962 by European Roads, on Flickr