Dan Flore Bamako-Mali-Boat-on-the-Niger-River-and-King-Fahd-Bridge

The King Fahd Bridge (Pont Roi Fahd) of

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on the Niger Rive ...

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mal ...

connects the older sections of the Malian capital to its broad suburbs on the south shore of the

Niger River The Niger River ( ; ) is the main river of West Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in south-eastern Guinea near the Sierra Leone border. It runs in a crescent shape through ...

. One of three road bridges across the Niger at Bamako, it is also known as the "New Bridge". Opened in 1992 with funding from the

Saudi Fund for Development The Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) is a Saudi Arabian government agency that provides development assistance to developing countries by financing social and infrastructure projects. The fund seeks to support the economies of recipient countrie ...

, it was named for

Fahd of Saudi Arabia Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, فهد بن عبد العزيز آل سعود ''Fahd ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Suʿūd'', ; 1920, 1921 or 1923 – 1 August 2005) was a Saudi Arabian politician who was King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia fr ...

. 500 meters downstream (east) lies Bamako's first bridge, built in 1957 under French Colonial rule, renamed the Martyrs Bridge. Both bridges connect the central city neighborhood of Commune III with Badalabougou. The Avenue de la CDEAO passes over the King Fahd Bridge. Prior to the 1950s, the only crossing of the Niger at Bamako was at the Sotuba Causeway, 8 kilometers downstream from the city, which is a low water crossing of cut stone at the location of a natural rapids. The next all season crossing downstream is at the Markala Dam, over 200 kilometers east northeast past Segou, which until recently relied on ferry transport to cross one arm of the Niger. The next road bridge to cross the Niger river downstream of Markala is at

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

. The ''Pont de l’amitié sino-malienne'', a Chinese funded third road bridge, downstream on the east end of Bamako, has been completed in 2011.3è pont de Bamako : Le Chantier se Précise à l'Horizon
. L'Essor, 21 May 2007.

References

External links

* Pascal James Imperato. Historical Dictionary of Mali. Scarecrow Press/ Metuchen. NJ - London (1986) *Velton, Ross. Mali: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press, 2000. pp. 101–122 {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2020 Bridges in Mali Buildings and structures in Bamako Crossings of the Niger River Bridges completed in 1992

See also

References

External links