Tanzania's road transport network plays a crucial role in connecting its vast territory and facilitating the movement of people and goods.

Ministry of Transport

Tanzanian road management falls under the authority of the Ministry of Transport, through Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS) for national roads. The Ministry now consists of three sectors that work in parallel, covering work sector, transport sector and communication sector. All these sectors have head offices at the capital city of Dodoma.

TANROADS is an executive agency under the Ministry of Works and came into operation in July 2000. The Agency is responsible for the maintenance and development of the trunk and regional road network in Tanzania Mainland classified road network. (Road Act, 2007).

Road transport is the most widely used in Tanzania, carrying over 90% of the passengers and 75% of the freight traffic in the country. The total road networks in Tanzania include 181,189.77 of roads, of which TANROADS is managing a total of 36,760 km, comprises 12,223 km of Trunk roads, 23,846 km of regional roads and 691 km of Designated District roads.  The remaining 144,429.77 km is rural, urban and feeder roads under the responsibility of Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PMO-RALG) managed by Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA)

Road transport in Tanzania faces different problems such as insufficient funds for rehabilitation, upgrading for routine maintenance, high rates of accidents on the roads occur due to poor state of the roads, weak institutional arrangement coordination in the road transport, and high costs of construction of roads and maintenance. (Tanzania Revenue Authority, 2017).

In Tanzania, roads maintenance for both paved and unpaved roads is done through five ways. The first way is called routine and recurrent maintenance and mainly consists of grass cutting, reshaping roads and cleaning of sewage system. The second way is called periodic maintenance. The third one is spot improvement and includes rutting and portholes. The fourth and fifth ways cover bridge preventive maintenance and repair and bridge major repair. (TANROADS, 2016)

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: HQ staff will input a link to section 4.1 Government Contact List here.

Distance Matrix

Distances from Capital City to Major Towns (km)

Travel Time from Capital City to Major Towns (hrs)

Road Security

Road safety remains a significant concern in Tanzania, with an estimated 1,004 fatalities in 2022 reported by Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) in their annual reporting. The Tanzanian government has implemented various road safety initiatives, including stricter traffic laws, increased enforcement, and public awareness campaigns. Tanzania has been selected for the implementation of the Ten Step Plan for Safer Road Infrastructure Pilot Project supported by the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) and  the Global Road Safety Facility (GRSF). The cornerstone of the project is the Tanzanian Road Assessment Programme (TanRAP), launched in September 2022 to eliminate high-risk roads and curb the number of deaths on the country’s roads annually, headed by the Ministry of Transport (MoWT), which aims to build capacity and improve the safety of road infrastructure in the country in partnership with other leading stakeholders. Such as Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA), Tanzania Road Association (TARA), National Institute of Transport (NIT), Road Safety Ambassadors (RSA), Roads Fund Board (RFB), development banks, mobility clubs, road safety NGOs and industry.

Tanzania’s vision is to have a safe environment for the Road Traffic System, which is in accordance with internationally accepted standards. The policy seeks to guide and unite all stakeholders and put emphasis on cooperation and sharing of knowledge, experience, expertise, and resources. The National Road Safety Policy has been developed in accordance with the strategy for the reduction / prevention of accidents:

1. Revised systems and institutional arrangements for road safety management in Tanzania.
2. Revised national road infrastructure safety strategy and action plans.
3. Revised national road design standards to ensure that they address road safety for all road users and meet the specific needs of vulnerable road users.
4. Revised current national and local operational road safety policies, standards, guidelines, and financing arrangements.
5. New national training, accreditation, and certification scheme (that supports new road safety targets and builds institutional capacity to sustain the National Safer Road Infrastructure Plan and National Road Assessment Program.

To ensure safety on the road, the government has implemented a maximum speed limit of 50 km per hours on all highways approaching main towns and villages. This affects the travel time as this speed limited is strictly enforced.

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

The legislations which regulate issues of weighbridges and axle load limitations is The East African Community Vehicle Load Control Act, 2016 and its three (3) Regulations (Vehicle Dimension and Axle Configuration; Special Loads; and Enforcement Measures, Regulation, 2018).