Dar es Salaam’s traffic nightmare: A daily toll on economy, health, and environment

According to the Traffic Time Index (TTI) report of March 2025, what should be a 30-minute journey in Dar es Salaam can now take up to 70 minutes. On average, city commuters lose 2.5 hours daily in traffic—equivalent to nearly three working days every fortnight.

In 2021, President Samia Suluhu Hassan revealed that traffic congestion was costing the nation Sh4 billion daily, or about Sh1.44 trillion annually, in lost productivity, fuel, and environmental degradation.

When it rains, it crawls

The situation worsens dramatically during rainy days, when waterlogged roads and potholes become mini-lakes, forcing drivers to slow down or reroute.

Flood-prone areas like Jangwani Valley become impassable, stretching already long commutes to new extremes. With few or no alternative routes in many neighbourhoods, the entire road network buckles under pressure, as everyone funnels through the same clogged arteries.

Traffic rules? Optional for some

While everyday drivers inch forward in frustration, traffic law enforcement is often absent or inconsistent. It’s not uncommon to find police officers ignoring traffic lights, choosing instead to manually override signals—often creating more confusion than order.

Government officials regularly bypass traffic laws altogether, weaving through traffic with sirens blaring expecting instant right of way—regardless of road conditions or the rights of other drivers. Their urgency, real or perceived, becomes a symbol of impunity that many frustrated drivers emulate.

Indeed, phantom lanes—imaginary routes created by motorists trying to beat the jam—have become a daily spectacle. As cars spill into road shoulders, sidewalks, and even oncoming lanes, chaos reigns, especially during rush hours.

What is on the ground

The Citizen’s sister paper Mwananchi visited five of Dar’s busiest roads—Nelson Mandela, Morogoro, Bagamoyo, Kilwa, and Kawawa—during different hours to witness the congestion firsthand.

On Nelson Mandela Road, a route from Uhasibu to Ubungo’s Kijazi Interchange took over two hours in a private car—normally a 30-minute drive. Driver Said Hamis remarked, “With no traffic, this takes 15 minutes. But we wasted two hours, mostly idling and burning fuel.”

Morogoro Road offered no relief. A trip from Magomeni Usalama to Kimara Mwisho, usually 15 minutes without congestion, stretched to three hours and 17 minutes in the evening, as drivers battled through five major choke points.

Trapped between gridlock and quotas

According to Shifwaya Lema, Secretary of Dar es Salaam’s Daladala Owners Association (Darcoboa), ongoing road repairs and truck blockages are worsening an already dire situation.

“Sometimes we try using side roads to keep up with schedules, but we’re fined by police. It’s like being punished for trying to work,” he said. The influx of heavy-duty trucks, especially along Mandela Road, clogs traffic lanes and often leaves no room for smaller, faster-moving vehicles.

During rainstorms, potholes disappear under murky floodwater, damaging vehicles and delaying trips even further. Daladala operators often fail to complete expected daily routes, making only 3–4 trips instead of the usual 6–7, leading to reduced income and mounting pressure from vehicle owners.

Simon Davis, a daladala conductor, said: “Our boss expects Sh100,000 a day, traffic or no traffic. If we don’t meet the target, it’s on us. Sometimes we have to borrow money just to survive the day.”

Environmental and public health fallout

Environmental specialist Msololo Onditi warns that idling vehicles significantly increase carbon emissions, contributing to climate change and air pollution.

“A car stuck for 15 minutes wastes fuel and emits greenhouse gases without moving an inch. This has a major environmental impact,” he said.

Additionally, prolonged traffic leads to unsanitary practices: waste dumped from car windows, drivers relieving themselves roadside, and garbage trucks stuck in jammed roads—often near food vendors.

Productivity and the economy

Economist Dr Hamisi Mwinyimvua from the University of Dar es Salaam says the productivity loss caused by congestion is enormous.

“If a worker arrives two hours late every day, that adds up. Across thousands of workers, it’s a national productivity crisis,” he said. With fewer routes and longer travel times, even businesses suffer—especially those in logistics and transport.

Is there a solution?

Transport expert Dr Prosper Nyaki from the National Institute of Transport (NIT) believes that urban congestion cannot be solved by a single intervention. According to him, the issue is deeply structural, rooted in rapid population growth and ongoing urbanisation.

“This is not just a matter of building more roads,” he explains. “We need to diversify transport options to create a sustainable and efficient urban mobility system.”

Dr Nyaki recommends a multi-pronged approach that includes strengthening public transport networks, such as trains and buses, to provide reliable alternatives to private car use. He also calls for the upgrading of feeder roads, which would reduce overdependence on main highways and ease pressure on major arteries.

Additionally, he suggests the construction of overpasses and the installation of traffic signals at major bottlenecks to streamline traffic flow. Just as critical, he says, is the decentralisation of services, so that residents no longer have to travel to central areas like Kariakoo for essential goods and services.

To further ease congestion, Dr Nyaki underscores the need to improve residential road networks, enabling people to move efficiently within their neighbourhoods without being forced onto already congested main roads for short trips.

With traffic lights ignored, traffic rules flouted by those in power, and a lack of alternative routes to ease the flow, Dar es Salaam’s roads are becoming a daily battleground.

For now, the city’s commuters, from boda riders to business executives, remain united by one experience: a shared sense of powerlessness as they inch forward toward a destination that always seems too far away.