Multifunctional Roads

Jonathan Demenge, Rossella Alba, Katharina Welle, Kebede Manjur, Alemu Addisu, Lyla Mehta and Kifle Woldearegay

Journal of Infrastructure Development, 2015, vol. 7, issue 2, 165-180

Abstract: Rural roads are built to improve people’s mobility and to enhance access to markets, administrative centres, schools and health posts, and are credited with important socio-economic changes. A less studied aspect is the impact of roads on hydrological resources, as roads interact with existing surface and groundwater flows, redistributing water-related hazards and resources across space with significant consequences on people and their livelihoods. In Ethiopia, the government has embarked on a massive road construction programme over the last decade, mainly to serve the needs of an essentially rural population and agrarian economy. In parallel, the government has also been investing significantly in water harvesting and conservation measures and irrigation to serve the needs of a population whose livelihoods depend heavily on rain-fed agriculture. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2014 in the semi-arid region of Tigray, Ethiopia, this article explores the opportunities and potential for multifunctional infrastructures. We argue that the two distinctive objectives of improving road connectivity and water availability for irrigation are interlinked and can be served by the same infrastructure, which we call multifunctional roads.

Keywords: Roads; groundwater; land erosion; water harvesting; livelihoods; Tigray; Ethiopia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D73 H41 H43 H54 Q15 Q16 Q24 Q25 Q51 Q56 R40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:jouinf:v:7:y:2015:i:2:p:165-180

DOI: 10.1177/0974930615609482

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