Urbad Planning 1: The Streets of Bamako

Well one month has past and no one has sent me any scathing emails, which means I have to keep myself in check, and make another post. I should really start by talking about 'Time in Bamako' and how there exists no such thing as a deadline. This lack of punctuality and sense of urgency has caused me too many problems in getting work done here (on the part of the Malians I work with and myself).

So I finally bring you my thoughts on the streets of Bamako—or I should say, the lack thereof. If you check out Google Earth, you will most certainly see a somewhat confusing web of paved roads that indeed can be labeled 'streets.' This web can be a little difficult to navigate at first since it doesn't strictly follow the graph paper model of equidistant blocks and perpendicular intersections as is done so often in the mundane world of American cities and suburbs. Normally I would say that a less patterned street map would be beneficial for a city in discouraging the use of personal vehicles and encouraging pedestrian traffic and public transportation; but thanks to the wonders and efficiency of Chinese factories, too many people in Bamako jam up the roads with their identical Power-K scooters (the topic of my next entry). So what we have in Bamako is a decent—albeit confusing—web of paved roads that simply cannot keep up with amount of vehicles trying to get around town.

Unfortunately, the majority of roads in Bamako don't fit into the same category of those in the previous paragraph. Most can hardly be described as roads at all. I want to call them dirt roads, but I am afraid that the reader in America will immediately think of the kind of dirt road you would ride on when traveling to your cabin or driving to a campground. A dirt road of that quality is called a 'piste entretenue' which literally means well-kept path, and is really the second-best quality of national road in Mali. So what am I to call these roads that make up the majority of roads in Bamako? Let's go with 'inner-city off-road streets.' Really, your vehicle would be better off driving 60 mph over a speed bump than have to constantly deal with these streets. Driving on these turns everyone in the vehicle into an over-excited bobble-head. It is highly inadvisable to get into a taxi in Bamako if you need to go to the bathroom, I've done it once and barely made it to my apartment. Rocks, old cement blocks, ditches, potholes, trash: all of these are to be found on the streets of Bamako. There are no lanes. There is only the most level path you take no matter the direction you are driving. And what happens when you face a car going the opposite direction? You put on a neck brace and prepare for a bumpy ride.

That pretty much explains the two kinds of streets in Bamako: the smooth but confusing and overcrowded web of paved roads, and the inner-city off-road paths. To end this topic I leave you with a picture:

This picture was taken only after a mild rain, so much for drainage systems.

Next up on Bamako Breakdown: Power-K: The Scourge of Bamako