The following is a list of national roads in Tanzania, under the jurisdiction of the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS). The list is not exhaustive. As part of the 2007 Roads Act in Tanzania, National roads were classified into two categories, Trunk Roads and Regional Roads. The total road network in Tanzania as of December 2022 is 181,190 km (112,590 mi), of which 36,760 km (22,840 mi) are classified as National Roads (Trunk &; Regional) and 144,429 km (89,744 mi) as District Roads (Collector, Feeder and Urban roads). District roads are under the responsibility of the President’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government (PORALG) through Tanzania Rural and Urban Roads Agency (TARURA).[1][2] Before 1980, Tanzania shared the same highway numbering system as Kenya, following the dissolution of the East African Community, the country renamed its roads to the A and B numbering system still available on some out dated maps.[3]
Road sign in Ngara showing directions to the old B3 Highway, this sign was later replaced after the transition of the Colonial Road System to the Trunk Road System implemented by TANROADS (Photo taken in 2006)
1971 EAC Road Numbering
Road
Former Route
Current Routes
Notes
B1
Segera to Kilolotoni
All sections of B1 became part of T2.
B2
Dar es Salaam to Mtwara
The road was divided into two parts after the creation of the Trunk Roads System, where the sections from Dar es Salaam to Mingoyo were assigned the code T7 while the sections from Mingoyo to Mtwara were assigned the code T6.
The original B6 was fragmented into several trunk roads following the renaming of highways in Tanzania, where sections stretching from the Kenyan border to Usagara became T4. The sections between Usagara and Makongolosi became part of T8.
After the establishment of the Original East African Community, an attempt was made to adapt the road system previously used during the colonial era, where it was decreed in 1971 that the road sections connecting Migori County to the Mara Region were to be coded B6 within the category of "Territorial Main Road".[a]
B8
Uganda: Masaka to Mutukula (Border with Tanzania)
Tanzania: Mutukula (Border with Uganda) to Kasesya (Border with Zambia)
Uganda: Colloquially known as the Masaka-Kakuto Road.
Tanzania: Following the implementation of the Trunk Roads System, the B8 was divided into several parts, the section from the Uganda border to Kalebezo was assigned the code T2, specifying the area around Lake Victoria, while the sections from Kalebezo to the Zambian border were assigned the code T9.
Following the formation of the original East African Community, which included both Tanzania and Uganda, it was decided in 1971 that the B8 would be considered as the "Main Western Trunk Road" within the intergovernmental road system.[5]
^"(i) Kenya border Kisii-Musoma (B4-B6) via Migori (K) Suna and Tarime (T)" (Page 140)[5]
^"The Kasulu line should follow the other main road, B381, on the southern side up to junction 14 km south of Kasulu, and then follow the westem side of the road to Kasulu" (Page 12-8)[9]