• Côte d’Ivoire to complete Abidjan Y4 ring road by December 2025
• Project aims to ease congestion with 55 km bypass around city center
• Funded by AfDB and Ivorian state, cost estimated at $218 million
  

Côte d’Ivoire’s Minister of Equipment and Road Maintenance, Dr. Amédé Koffi Kouakou, announced on Thursday that the Abidjan ring road, known as the Y4 Motorway, will be completed by the end of December 2025. He made the statement during a site visit, noting that construction is now nearly finished along the entire route.

According to project details, the sections linking Koffi Gadeau Boulevard to the Akouédo military camp, and the segment from Akouédo to the Ébimpé stadium, are already complete, as is the stretch between Koffi Gadeau and the Alépé road. The intermediate section from the Alépé road to the Ébimpé stadium is 98% complete, while the portion connecting the stadium to the Northern Motorway is 99% done. The final stretch, between the Northern Motorway and the Jacqueville-Songon interchange, is more than 90% complete.

Part of the broader Abidjan Urban Transport Project, the Y4 ring road is intended to give Abidjan a bypass that eases the heavy congestion on central roads. According to Ageroute, traffic in the city remains highly congested because vehicle numbers continue to rise while most major roads still funnel through the city center and the port. As a result, drivers moving between outlying districts often have no choice but to pass through downtown, creating additional pressure on already saturated arteries.

The full Y4 route covers 55 kilometers, divided into two main 27.5-kilometer sections. The first section was financed by the African Development Bank (AfDB) and served traffic during the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Côte d’Ivoire. The total project cost is estimated at about 124 billion CFA francs (around 218 million dollars), including 50 billion financed by the Ivorian state.

Henoc Dossa