Africa’s incredible new £264m motorway - 8 lanes in landlocked country

Africa is set for a major new £264million highway with construction already underway in Burkina Faso. The new 206-mile route will feature 8 lanes, four in each direction, and is expected to be completed later this year.

The new route is set to connect Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, with Bobo-Dioulasso in the southwest. The route is set to be a key artery, connecting the two biggest cities.

A new highway is being constructed in Burkina Faso (Image: Getty)

Ouagadougou is the political nerve centre of the country, with Bobo-Dioulasso considered the economic centre and industrial hub of the nation. The new route is set to radically cut travel times between the two crucial regions and is expected to improve trade flow.

The new highway is set to be built under the government’s Faso Mêbo initiative, an initiative to improve road infrastructure using locally procured equipment and native engineers. The project has the backing of President Ibrahim Traoré, with the highway set to be financed from state funds.

So far, nearly $357 million (£264million) has already been set aside for the project out of the Government’s 2026 budget. Burkina Faso is a completely landlocked country, surrounded by six other nations in the centre of Africa—Mali, Niger, Benin, Togo, Ghana, and the Ivory Coast.

The country is undergoing a series of infrastructure projects, with the Ouagadougou to Bobo-Dioulasso highway not the only new route. Officials have indicated that additional regional expressways will be constructed to connect all regional capitals.

Meanwhile, the Koudougou–Yako route has been re-designed as a four-lane dual carriageway despite originally set to run as a standard road.

Burkina Faso is made up of mostly back routes, with estimates suggesting the nation has 46,095km of rural roads. Of these, just 17,324km were considered to be developed, representing just over 37% of all roads in the country.

Meanwhile, just under 3,000km of paved roads remain in good condition, accounting for just over 31% of paved roads and 10% of the total network.