Africa’s cities are both among the most rapidly growing in the world and the most underserved by transport infrastructure. The African Development Bank estimates an annual infrastructure investment gap of $100 billion even as Africa’s urban population is projected to double by 2050. Nearly four in five urban residents today walk to reach essential services, yet 95% of roads fail to provide an acceptable level of service for pedestrians and 93% fail to provide an acceptable level of service for cyclists.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital of nearly 6 million people, is one city seeking to change this dynamic, through a major, multiyear corridor development project guided by a City Structure Plan, Road Safety Strategy and Non-Motorized Transport Strategy. WRI Africa, in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety, has assisted with elements of this effort through capacity-building workshops, technical support and guiding documents.

Phase one of Addis Ababa’s corridor development project is now complete, adding 40 kilometers (25 miles) of comprehensively improved streetscapes, and the second phase is in progress. As the city continues this effort – contending with how to keep momentum going, mitigating the impacts of the displacement and demolition required, and achieving the city’s lofty long-term targets – there are lessons we can already glean to guide both this effort as well as those of other cities in other low- and middle-income countries.

Creating a More Accessible City

Most of Addis Ababa’s streets were not designed to meet the needs of non-motorized or active transport users. Walkways are often narrow and difficult to navigate due to encroachment from adjacent land use and rampant placement of road furniture and vertical obstructions to create access to private properties. This has led to frequent complaints that the city was built only for private vehicle owners and the young, athletic and fit, leaving behind vulnerable communities.

The first phase of the corridor development project focused on five existing transport corridors, aiming to enhance the beauty, safety, functionality and livability of the city through the creation of vibrant and pedestrian-friendly environments. Interventions included widening of walkways, adding protected bike lanes, building off-street parking and public transport terminal facilities, and creating new public green spaces. In a city where 54% of the modal share is walking and 86% of traffic crash fatality victims are pedestrians, these efforts are critical. The second phase, currently underway, follows roughly the same blueprint but adds an additional 132 kilometers of improved corridors.

However, as in other dense cities, development of these corridors hinges on the demolition of existing buildings and homes, displacing thousands of residents and potentially overshadowing the development effort. For instance, the 10.4-kilometer-long Piassa-Mexico-Sarbet-Gotera-Wollo Sefer corridor required widening the existing street on both sides to accommodate new infrastructure. This corridor, alone, caused the reallocation of 3,250 households and more than 14,000 residents, costing the city close to $325 million (ETB $40 billion). 

Addis Ababa’s corridor development project may cause temporary disruptions; however, it also promises a long-term solution that improves accessibility and ensures safer, more efficient travel for a large majority of the city’s residents.

Will Long-Term Efforts Yield Results?

In cities like Addis Ababa where residents often wait hours for public transport services or walk long distances to avoid these wait times, cycling can be a viable alternative. But the infrastructure must be available, safe and convenient to realize this potential. Road user surveys demonstrate that more residents would consider cycling if safer cycling infrastructure and facilities were available. Protected and connected bike lanes, better street lighting and enhanced security can increase demand for walking and cycling. Indeed, we find that availability of safe cycling infrastructure increases use and demand.

Through hands-on practice sessions and joint site inspections, WRI Africa has helped city officials and local experts assess how to design safer, more inclusive infrastructure in the city. WRI has also engaged and coordinated with local partners to promote political buy-in around reimagining the purposes of the city’s streets, beyond moving vehicles, and supporting car-free days.

Initiated in 2019, Menged Le Sew, Addis Ababa’s car-free day initiative, has been instrumental in increasing awareness of roads as public spaces among road users, technical personnel and local leaders. Long before ground was broken on new construction projects, they helped people to visualize what the city could look like when more attention is given to non-motorized transport.

At first, Addis Ababa’s car-free days closed six select transport corridors to motorized vehicles one Sunday of each month. Six years later, the city’s car-free days now close 29 transport corridors to motorized vehicles one Sunday each month and close 12 transport corridors to motorized vehicles every Sunday. In addition, car-free days have now spread to most of Ethiopia’s regional capitals. Experts from WRI Africa collaborated with Addis Ababa’s Traffic Management Agency to prepare a car-free day toolkit that not only guides car-free events but created a sharing platform where officials from Addis Ababa and Accra, Ghana, were able to exchange experiences with city counterparts in India, who have a long history of successfully implementing their own car-free day initiative, Raahgiri Day.

Addis Ababa’s Non-Motorized Transport Strategy emphasizes the importance of dedicated bike lanes and pedestrian infrastructure like zebra crossings and widened walkways. It has ambitious 10-year goals, aiming to construct 600 kilometers of high-quality walkways and 200 kilometers of bike lanes by the end of 2028. The city also has a nine-year Cycle Network Plan, which provides a list of corridors that would benefit most from new and improved bike lanes.

Local leaders are now focused on launching a bike-sharing scheme and improving bike lane connectivity with other modes by extending existing cycle lanes to new public transport stations and ensuring bike racks are available at all transit stations.

Addis Ababa’s active mobility strategies and car-free days were not envisioned or implemented overnight; it took years to gain public support, collaborate with local leaders and agencies, and, when the opportunity arose, implement solutions (as in the case of Bole Road). Now, as the corridor development project begins reshaping the city in more concrete ways, the city’s efforts to socialize its plans and communicate the costs and benefits will be put to the test.

Strategies To Maximize Corridor Development

Addis Ababa’s ongoing transport corridor development project is the largest effort yet to remake the city’s transport infrastructure, and how it is carried out will have effects that echo for decades. To ensure this major effort – and those of other cities embarking on similar projects – maximizes the impact of such an important investment, we have observed five key lessons so far.

Integrate Existing Road Safety & Pedestrian Infrastructure

Despite safety improvements to pedestrian and cycling infrastructure in some places, like widened sidewalks and dedicated bike lanes, intersection safety remains a challenge. During implementation of the corridor development project’s first phase, the city removed refuge islands and medians from several intersections, resulting in wider intersections. These intersections have become difficult to operate, even with traffic signals, and are unsafe for pedestrians. In some locations, pedestrians must now cross more than six lanes of traffic, increasing the risk of traffic crashes and pedestrian fatalities.

Rather than removing existing pedestrian infrastructure to accommodate for transport corridor development, cities should integrate existing infrastructure into new plans and ensure that pedestrian safety efforts elsewhere are not jeopardized through poor integration or execution around major arterials and intersections. Safe, sustainable corridor development should not only provide infrastructure from point A to B, but it should also manage and secure safe access for all road users.

Involve Small Businesses

As in many cities, informal, small businesses are the backbone of Addis Ababa’s economy, creating job opportunities and providing convenient and affordable services to many residents. Addis Ababa’s current effort to exclude all informal street vendors from transport corridor development not only requires intense effort, investment and enforcement on behalf of the city, it also reduces the possibility of creating a more vibrant and inclusive environment. 

It is possible to include informal street vendors by setting appropriate standards, so that vendors are unable to compromise the functionality and aesthetics of the improved corridors. Availability of goods and services provided by local businesses is also likely to increase pedestrian and cycling traffic.

Expand Public Transport and Acknowledge Its Role in Long-Range Travel  

Dedicating space for public transport can significantly improve its functionality. BRT, light rail transit and metro rail transit systems can operate more efficiently and timely with specialized infrastructure and lanes that allow them to have the right of way or bypass car traffic. Some public transport stops have been part of transport corridor development projects so far, but efforts could be even more impactful if these systems are incorporated from inception and design across the city. For example, the Piassa-Mexico-Sarbet-Gotera-Wollo Sefer corridor is also slated for a BRT line, yet the infrastructure being installed now does not yet incorporate BRT elements.

Though new pedestrian and cycling infrastructure will improve the quality and accessibility of short trips, longer trips are only feasible when closely integrated with public transport. Beyond including public transport stations and terminals, transport corridor development plans must connect walking and cycling infrastructure with public transport systems to increase accessibility.  

Include Local Voices 

By including local residents, experts and stakeholders from various fields and disciplines in consultations, transport corridor development projects will be better tailored to local contexts and more inclusive. Early planning, proper stakeholder mapping, multiple consultation sessions and interdisciplinary discussion forums are vital in creating trust with the community and eventually a sense of a shared ownership of the system.

Involvement of more voices in the design phase of transport corridor development projects can also reduce duplicative work and avoid missed opportunities for easy wins. 

Follow-Through on Operations and Maintenance  

Building new infrastructure is a means, not an end. The full potential of investments in public transport, walking and cycling infrastructure can only be realized if post-project operations are also successful. Projects have definite start and end dates, but high operational quality requires consistent effort throughout the infrastructure’s lifetime. How will bike-sharing schemes be introduced to provide more bikes to residents? How will vandalism and public safety challenges be tackled? How will vendors be managed? Which organization will lead transport operations? These questions, and more, need clear answers to ensure functional operation long after the last brick is laid. 

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As Addis Ababa continues to scale its transport corridor development project and more cities in low- and middle-income countries consider similar large-scale non-motorized transport and transit-oriented development projects, it is important to collect data, document and share progress, and incorporate learnings into future phases of implementation. These cities face unique challenges and unique contexts, but there is still much to be learned from each other.

Large transport projects are not always perfect, and come with a host of challenges, but taking bold measures to improve the livability of cities, especially for vulnerable road users, is a step in the right direction. If done right, with input from interdisciplinary professionals, strong stakeholder participation and community ownership, the benefits will be worth it.

Semere Jelalu Shafi is Urban Mobility Analyst for WRI Africa’s Cities program.

Iman Abdulwassi Abubaker is Head of Cities for WRI’s Regional Office in Ethiopia & Mobility Lead for WRI Africa’s Cities program.

Celal Tolga İmamoğlu is Transport & Road Safety Senior Manager for WRI Türkiye.

Jiregna Hirpa is Transport Planner for WRI Africa’s Cities program.

Taylor Symes is Communications Specialist for WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities.