The University of Zimbabwe

Name: Boti Betuya

Program: Rural and urban Planning
Course: Introduction to traffic engineering
Reg Number: R164830Y
Lecturer: Mr. Machigere

Question: critically examine the Zimbabwean road hierarchy as an

applicable regulatory framework to ensure the provision of
sustainable transport infrastructure in Zimbabwe.
Sustainable transport infrastructure is one which each transport infrastructure technology or
mode is used where its technological strength can be effectively deployed and requiring
institutional forms that are mandated to ensure that positive externalities and negative
externalities. The Zimbabwe road hierarchy is provided in the design manual for residential
layout design. The design manual provides for the land that is set aside for transport
infrastructure and the types of roads that has to be designed to carry particular volume of traffic
in and outside residential areas and industrial areas. The road hierarchy system include Primary
distributor, District distributor, Local distributor and Local access roads. These roads are
designed in a sustainable manner that they accommodate particular and specific volume of traffic
and offers safety and convenience to the users. Sustainable transport infrastructure is premised
on having infrastructure that offers safety, security and convenience to its current users and the
future generations. In other words, it is futuristic and holistic as well as considerate approach.
The concept of sustainability is about utilizing a resource in such a manner that the resource is
not depleted or permanently damaged. The essay below shall examine the Zimbabwe road
hierarchy and applicable land use control within the framework of promoting sustainable
transport infrastructure and services within Zimbabwean context.

According to the layout design manual, Primary distributors are designed with a 25m width. This
is because such roads ferry traffic in large volumes from one region to another. In such a manner
the axle load which is imposed on such road is so huge that it has to have a greater width to
ensure convenience of traffic movement. The amount of land set for the use of Primary
distributors is sustainable in that such roads are used by heavy cargo traffic which have specific
depots and destinations. The amount of land for use allows for construction of bridges to make
sure that vehicles are weighed in motion to avoid overload which damage the Primary road
infrastructure. This allows for management of infrastructure and therefore caters for
sustainability.

The District distributor is that which connects one city to the other. The layout design provisions
are such that this road connects to the Primary distributor directly and it is provided with a 20m
width for land use. This means that this road also ferry high volumes of traffic from one city to
another hence its width should be greater to ensure convenience. Furthermore such roads are
designed with a 3m buffer or 5m buffer on either sides to ensure for the provision of street
fashion such as highway cameras to monitor flow of traffic and to offer emergency dispatch of
services in case of accidents. The buffers are also used for the provision of natural drainage of
water from the road and aesthetics. There has been provision of sustainable road infrastructure
such as the dualization of Harare-Bulawayo road and Harare-Beitbridge road because of huge
road landuse wayleave which allow for dualization. This have not only offered convenience of
travelling but also safety for travelers and efficiency by reducing travel time wastage. Smooth
flow of traffic along dualized roads infrastructure has allowed for effective and efficient
travelling. There has been establishment of road tolls (toll gates) on such landuse wayleave for
District distributors which have gone a long way in capturing revenue to be used for maintenance
of the road infrastructure being used by traffic moving along District distributor roads.

However, the problem has been found where these roads connect with Local distributors in the
Central Business District. The layout design manual fails to provide for width expansion space
on such road intersections which have caused congestion in the city center. The volume of traffic
brought in by primary and district distributors in the CBD becomes concentrated and this has
proved to be unsustainable by causing a lot of traffic congestion, waste of travelling time and
fuel and environmental pollution hence becoming ineffective and inconvenience. Instead the
manual lacks provisions for sustainable transport infrastructure such as overpasses and
underpasses instead of intersections of such roads to solve inconveniences and ineffectiveness
caused by congestion which results from mistaken provisions for design of such roads of high
rank or hierarchy which ferry large volumes of traffic.

The Local distributor roads are mostly found in the urban areas and these connect to city centre
and residential suburbs in the city, for example, Harare-Ruwa or Harare-Chitungwiza or Harare
CBD to Machipisa or Mabvuku. The Local distributor road is smaller than the Primary and
District distributors and it has 15m with road infrastructure landuse in Zimbabwe. The main
purpose of this type of road is to ferry traffic to and from the CBD and a buffer of 3m is
permitted on it to cater for aesthetics, signage and to allow for installation of street cameras and
advertising boards or furniture. However, with the increase in traffic volume the land use
provision for Local distributors have proved to be unsustainable. Such roads are hardly expanded
or dualized to ferry large volumes of increasing traffic population thereby causing the traffic
problem in the city coupled with environmental pollution. Because of insufficient space
provision for land use for Local distributors it has been difficult to provide bus-dedicated lanes in
Zimbabwe to cater for public passenger transport which is effective and convenient hence the
traffic problem. The landuse provisions for local distributor has also been problematic in that
they cannot offer for street offsite parking when a vehicle experience a problem or resting, an
attempt would cause and worsen traffic congestion in the city.

The least on the road hierarchy system in Zimbabwe is the Local access road. However, landuse
provisions for Local access roads differ in relation to the type of residential area. The Circular 70
of 2004 provided that the local access roads in the low density suburbs have a 12m width whilst
those in medium density have a 10m width landuse and those in high density suburbs have an 8m
width landuse. These variations are based on the assumptions that car ownership in low density
is higher than in the high density suburbs and hence road infrastructure width or landuse
provisions may vary. The local access roads absorb traffic from Local distributors to the
residential areas. Noteworthy is that the provisions for landuse for access roads is sustainable
because it caters for safety in the residential neighborhoods by filtering through traffic and the
coming in of heavy vehicles which cause inconveniences, threaten people's safety and security,
cause environmental degradation and deterioration of road infrastructure which was designed not
to accommodate such types of traffic. However, with the advent of car ownership provisions for
an 8m landuse for access roads is unsustainable because it can hardly cater for offsite or off stand
parking, attempt for would cause difficulties for the other traffic to filter through in the same
neighborhood.

The Zimbabwe road hierarchy and applicable landuse control framework somehow lack an
embrace of sustainability in the provision of sustainable transport infrastructure and services.
This is so because the provisions do not cater for space for pedestrian infrastructure and cycling.
In such a manner the environment have become less safe because of car dominance hence lack of
sustainable transport infrastructure and services. The infrastructure that can be established along
roads such as bus terminus did not cater for provision of sanitary facility space which are needed
by women and children and also there is segregation in terms of accessibility of such
infrastructure by people of special disabilities due to lack of overpasses or subways hence lack of
sustainable transport infrastructure.
In conclusion the essay above have critically examined the Zimbabwe road hierarchy and
applicable landuse control within the framework of promoting provision of sustainable transport
infrastructure and services within the Zimbabwean context. The essay has elaborated on the road
hierarchy system as provided by the layout design manual and it has provided a critique of the
relevance of the landuse control framework in promoting the provision of sustainable transport
infrastructure and services within the Zimbabwean context.
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