Road development and its impacts in Ethiopia

Among basic modes, road transport plays a paramount role in socioeconomic development in both developing and developed countries. The main objective of this study was to assess temporal and spatial road infrastructure development during three political regimes in Ethiopia and its impacts. The methodology employed mainly secondary data supported by limited primary data. The results showed that the road density of Ethiopia per 1,000 people has increased for more than four folds from 1951 to 2018). The mean distance of the network also showed decreasing trends. The empirical analysis shows that there are significant positive socioeconomic impacts upon households. However, the road traffic accident, as one of the main direct negative impacts, has been increasing from time to time. Compared to population trend since 1951, the correlation between the density of the total and asphalt roads is 0.87 and 0.38, respectively. This shows that the emphasis given to the expansion of paved roads in Ethiopia particularly in recent years is rather weak and needs attention.