Solomon Islands Road Network

There are relatively few roads in the Solomon Islands. There are paved roads in and around Honiara and other major towns but most roads are coral, gravel or dirt. Roads are poorly lit at night and have significant potholes. Most outlying islands have few or no roads, with a transportation infrastructure consisting of walking trails or the use of outboard motor canoes. The majority of freight is moved around the country via boat, rather than road. Solomon Islands have 1183km of roads and 185 bridges extending over 30 islands. Approximately 90% of the roads are located in Guadalcanal and Malaita.

Road Construction / Maintenance

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Development is responsible for the maintenance and construction of roads. Road maintenance is outsourced to private contractors but is managed by the Department of Infrastructure and Development. They are currently involved in maintenance work around Honiara.

The Solomon Island Road Improvement Project (SIRUP), has been initiated to maintain and rehabiliate roads and bridges. The current projects are funded by AusAID, NZAID, Asian Development Bank, and the SIG. They are currently involved in rehabilitating and repairing roads on Guadalcanal and Kirakira with the work being done by a mixture of labor based contractors and heavy equipment contractors.
AusAID is also running a program to repair roads on Malaita.

The maintenance and construction of roads and road infrastructure is challenging due to heavy rainfall and steep terrain. Additionally the aquisition of land for new roads or materials for road building is difficult due to land ownership issues.

4.1 Solomon Islands Government Contact List

Further information on the services provided by the road authority contacts identified in the contact list and information on road inventory can be found in the following document:

Solomon Islands Road Assessment Additional Information

Note: The information provided in the attached documents, which has been taken from the old DLCA, does not match the structure of the new LCA and is therefore provided separately.

Distance Matrix

Travel Time Matrix

Distance Matrix

Travel TIme Matrix

Road Security

Road security is generally good, though there are sometimes incidents of rocks being thrown at passing vehicles. If locals are repairing roads they may demand payment off passing trafic .

Weighbridges and Axle Load Limits

There are no weighbridges in operation in the Solomon Islands. There are no axle load limits in the Solomon Islands.

Road Class and Surface Conditions

Road Classification

Bridges

The bridges are a mixture of timber, concrete slab, steel girder and bailey (single lane).  A number of bridges in the Solomon Islands have piles that are close together which in high water have led to debris collecting between piles.  This has then blocked sections of the river causing the water to divert and wash away the bridge approaches. SIRUP is currently involved in building an number of new bridges with climate change adaptations to withstand 100 year flood events.