Cairo–Cape Town Highway
The Cairo–Cape Town Highway is Trans-African Highway 4 in the transcontinental road network being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the African Union. The route has a length of 10,228 km (6,355 mi) and links Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa.
Trans-African Highway 4 | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end | TAH 1 in Cairo, Egypt | |||
| TAH 6 in Sudan and Ethiopia TAH 8 in Nairobi, Kenya TAH 9 in Zambia | ||||
| South end | TAH 3 in Cape Town, South Africa | |||
| Location | ||||
| Highway system | ||||
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The British Empire had long proposed a road through the Cape to Cairo Red Line of British colonies. The road was variously known as the Cape to Cairo Road, Pan-African Highway, or, in sub-Saharan Africa, the Great North Road. Like the Cape to Cairo Railway, the road was not completed before the end of British colonal rule.
In the 1980s, a modified version of the plan was revived as part of the Trans-African Highway, a transcontinental road network developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), and the African Union, named the Cairo-Cape Town Highway. While it uses most of the same roads as the original Cape to Cairo Road, it uses different routes in a few places.