Cairo Road is the main thoroughfare of

Lusaka, Zambia Lusaka (; ) is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was about 3.3 millio ...

and the principal business, retail and service centre of the city. It is a section of the T2 road and was so named because it is a link in

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

' then dream of a

Cape to Cairo Road The Cape to Cairo Road or Pan-African Highway, sometimes called the Great North Road in sub-Saharan Africa, was a proposed road that would stretch the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, through the Cape to Cairo Red Line of British Em ...

through

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonies In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

in Africa. Lusaka_City_Transport

Cairo Road is 1.8 km long, running north–south between the

Great East Road The Great East Road is a major road in Zambia and the main route linking its Eastern Province with the rest of the country. It is also the major link between Zambia and Malawi and between Zambia and northern Mozambique.Terracarta: ''Zambia, 2nd ...

junction (also known as the "Kabwe Roundabout") and the Independence Avenue junction (also known as the "Kafue Roundabout"), and is a wide dual carriageway with an avenue of trees down the centre. It runs parallel to the main railway line which is one block to the east. As the main north–south road it became very congested. This has been partially alleviated by the expansion of Lumumba Road to the west as a by-pass, taking much through traffic. All Heavy Goods vehicles are required to use Lumumba Road (not allowed on Cairo Road) when travelling from the southern side of the CBD to the northern side of the CBD and vice versa. Despite this, Cairo Road frequently becomes very congested, as does much of Lusaka. This is primarily due to the lack of any major ring roads and the growth of Lusaka's population. In 2020, a new road was opened, named the Lusaka West Ring Road, in order for traffic that doesn't intend on stopping in Lusaka to bypass the city centre to the west. So, with the opening of the new road, any vehicles that have no business in Lusaka and are travelling from the south (

Kafue Kafue is a town in the Lusaka Province of Zambia and it lies on the north bank of the Kafue River, after which it is named. It is the southern gateway to the central Zambian plateau on which Lusaka and the mining towns of Kabwe and the Copperbe ...

) to the north (

Chibombo Chibombo is a town in the Central Province of Zambia, and is headquarters of Chibombo District. The town lies near the Lukanga Swamp. It is 95 km north of Lusaka and 45 km south-west of Kabwe on the Great North Road. Chibombo is home of the Lu ...

) (and vice versa) on the T2 road can avoid both Cairo Road and Lumumba Road.

References

Roads in Zambia Buildings and structures in Lusaka {{Africa-road-stub