PROJECT · TRANSPORTATION & HIGHWAY

Trans-African Highway 7 — Lagos Section

The Nigerian end of the Abidjan–Lagos Corridor, from the Seme border to the National Theatre.

CLIENT

Federal Ministry of Works

LOCATION

Seme border – National Theatre, Lagos State

SCALE

Lagos section · 1,028km Abidjan–Lagos Corridor

STATUS

In progress · Lagos section, 10 lanes with rail median

1,028 km

Abidjan–Lagos Corridor, five ECOWAS states

6 lanes

Dual carriageway standard across the ECOWAS corridor

320 km

Lot 3 — Togo, Benin and Nigeria

West Africa’s busiest trade route ends on a Lagos street, and that is the design problem.

The Abidjan–Lagos Corridor runs roughly 1,080 kilometres through Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria, and carries the majority of trade between the five economies. It is being rebuilt as a six-lane dual carriageway under the Trans-African Highway 7 programme, with Lot 3 covering 320.06 kilometres from Noepe in Togo through Benin to Lagos.

The corridor’s right of way is being set out wide enough to carry a railway alongside the highway, at the direction of the five heads of state — so the alignment has to work for a road today and a rail line later.

The Nigerian section runs from the Benin border at Seme through Agbara, Iyana Era, Okokomaiko and Mile 2 to Eric Moore and the National Theatre. Long-distance freight, border traffic and dense local movement all use the same carriageway. Separating them is the whole of the engineering problem.

Our role

Corridor survey and traffic assessment

Topographic survey, classified traffic counts and condition assessment along the Lagos section, from the border crossing to the urban end of the route.

Geometric and pavement design

Alignment and cross-section for a six-lane dual carriageway, with pavement designed for the freight loading a border corridor carries.

Junction and access strategy

Grade separation and access control where the corridor passes through Agbara, Iyana Era, Okokomaiko and Mile 2, so long-distance movement is separated from local trips.

Structures

Design and appraisal of bridges, interchanges and drainage structures along the alignment.

Construction supervision

Resident engineering, materials testing and quality control on site along the Lagos section.

Corridor length, lane configuration, lot extents, member states, the railway right of way and the Eric Moore terminus: Abidjan–Lagos Corridor Highway Development Project, ECOWAS Commission, with funding from the African Development Fund, the EU African Investment Facility and GIZ. Lagos alignment and the National Theatre station: AEC project records. AEC’s scope on this section is drawn from the project folder and should be confirmed before publication.