Transport in Ghana - Highways

Highways

Road transport is by far the dominant carrier of freight and passengers in Ghana’s land transport system. It carries over 95% of all passenger and freight traffic and reaches most communities, including the rural poor and is classified under three categories of trunk roads, urban roads, and feeder roads. The Ghana Highway Authority, established in 1974 is tasked with developing and maintaining the country's trunk road network totaling 13,367 km, which makes up 33% of Ghana's total road network of 40,186 km.

Trunk roads in Ghana are classified as National roads, Regional roads, and Inter-regional roads, all of which form the Ghana road network. National roads, designated with the letter N, link all the major population centers in Ghana. Regional roads, designated with the letter R, are a mix of primary and secondary routes, which serve as feeder roads to National roads; while Inter-Regional roads, designated with the prefix IR, connect major settlements across regional borders. By virtue of National roads linking major cities in the country, they sometimes double as Regional and Inter-Regional roads. The R40, which connects Accra to Adenta through the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange, forms part of the N4 which links Accra to Koforidua and Kumasi through the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange.

With respect to this mode of transport, many people prefer to use the public means. Many of the town and cities in the country can be reached by the use of urvan buses known as "trotro" or taxis. For inter-regional transport bigger buses are normally used.