Impact assessment of the on-shoreline VDN3 extension

The research project aims to :

• Update

Over the last two decades, the African continent has been experiencing the highest urban growth rates estimated at 3.5% per year with some African cities expected to represent 85% of the population by 2025. Among fast-growing capital cities, Dakar hosts 3,732,284inhabitants in 2019, representing 48% of the urban population. The urban growth/sprawl of the Senegalese capital is driven by a rural exodus,  in addition to the local population growth of 3% per year.  The 550km² peninsula was reaching its extension limits, leaving peripheral coastal areas the only available zones for new infrastructures developments, such as the extension of the existing northern highway so-called “Voie de Dégagement Nord”. To facilitate mobilities in the capital cities, the Senegalese government developed a 28kmhighway aiming to reduce traffic jams for a total cost of 51 billion Fcfa (88,224,609 US dollars),. Reshaping both coastal and urban landscapes, the VDN disturbs the Niayes ecosystem, a geomorphic/ecological region formed of coastal grey sandy dunes (filaos or Casuarina equisetifolia) covering the northern coastal zones of Senegal (from Dakar to Saint-Louis) and supplying the country with market gardening. 

The research project coupled GIS, Remote sensing to:

• Model Floods modelling to compute and map run-off flows

• Assess and compare coasts’ exposure to erosion and flood hazards before and after the VDN extension

• Identify and map land cover changes

• Assess Dakar’s socio-spatial vulnerability to floods and climate change

• Analyse flood management programs