Sector Results and Learning:
Transportation

This Transportation Sector Results and Learning page is a repository of evidence generated by all MCC-funded transportation interventions. To promote learning and inform future program design, this page captures monitoring data from key common indicators, showcases recent and relevant evaluations, includes all agency lessons from completed transportation evaluations to-date, and links to learning that has been aggregated across completed evaluations in the sector.

What Do We Invest In?

MCC has funded $3.1 billion in transportation interventions as of December 2022. These interventions fall into the following categories: transportation infrastructure; management, funding, operations and maintenance assistance; and transportation policy, regulatory, planning, financing and institutional development assistance.

Transport Infrastructure

These programs focus on the upgrading, improvement, rehabilitation and maintenance of transportation infrastructure such as roads, ports and airports to reduce transportation costs.

Management, Funding, Operations and Maintenance Assistance

These programs focus on building the capacity of local transportation public agencies/institutions to increase funding sources and cost-effectively manage, operate and maintain transportation systems.

Transport Policy, Regulatory, Planning, Financing and Institutional Development Assistance

These programs focus on building the capacity of local transportation public agencies/institutions to set policies and build planning and implementation capacities to keep transportation costs low.

Armenia Compact

A roads project was designed to improve the condition of 943 kilometers of rural roads in order to expand communities’ access to agricultural markets, non-farm income opportunities, and social infrastructure.

Benin Compact

A project aimed to increase efficiency at the Port of Cotonou, thereby reducing transportation costs, increasing investment incentives in cost-competitive industries, and ultimately contributing to importer and exporter value-added.

Burkina Faso Compact

A roads project was designed to expand access to markets and citizens’ access to social services through investments in rehabilitating rural roads, paving primary roads and creating and implementing a national road maintenance plan.

Cabo Verde Compact

Improving road and bridge infrastructure on the islands of Santiago and Santo Antao and upgrading and expanding the Port of Praia through this compact were expected to increase integration of internal markets and reduce transportation costs.

Côte d'Ivoire Compact

A transportation project designed to improve efficiency, increase the integration between transport systems, and improve road safety by rehabilitating 32 kilometers of critical roadway in the central corridor of Abidjan.

El Salvador Compact

A transportation project sought to physically link El Salvador’s Northern Zone with the rest of the country and enable new economic opportunities for rural households, lower transportation costs, and decrease travel times to markets.

El Salvador Investment Compact

An infrastructure project was designed to address transportation bottlenecks that have led to high transportation and logistics costs for regional trade by expanding the highway and improving a major border crossing with Honduras.

Georgia Compact

A road project aimed to rehabilitate and construct more than 220 kilometers of road extending through the Samtskhe-Javakheti region of southwest Georgia, and improve access to markets to support economic growth.

Ghana Compact

A transportation project aimed to promote access to social services and support expansion of Ghana’s export-directed horticulture base, and an agriculture project with a transportation component to expand commercial agriculture for smallholder farmers.

Honduras Compact

A transportation project was designed to reduce costs between Honduran production centers and national regional and global markets by expanding and improving approximately 109 kilometers of Highway CA-5.

Liberia Compact

A roads project aimed to enhance institutional capabilities to improve road maintenance and conduct critical periodic maintenance works on key segments of the primary paved and unpaved road network.

Malawi Transport and Land Compact

The Accelerated Growth Corridors Project aims to lower barriers between farms and markets through reduced transport costs in rural areas. The project will also support road maintenance planning and enable safer conditions for women moving along the corridors.

Mali Compact

A transportation project intended to facilitate sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction through a key infrastructure investment intended to capitalize on the Bamako-Sénou International Airport—a gateway for regional and international trade.

Moldova Compact

A road rehabilitation project aimed to reduce the cost of transport, goods, and services and improve roads safety by rebuilding and rehabilitating key roads and highways used for passenger and commercial traffic.

Mongolia Compact

A road project aimed to improve Mongolia’s transportation infrastructure and connect Mongolian markets to key trading partners by constructing an all-weather road in a key segment connecting the capital to the rest of Asia.

Mozambique Compact

A road project aimed to reduce transportation costs and improve and expand access to markets, resources, and services for individuals and for the private sector through the rehabilitation of 253 kilometers of roads.

Nepal Compact

A road project will focus on improving Nepal’s road maintenance management and include an incentive-matching fund to maintain up to 300 kilometers of roads while increasing the Government of Nepal’s budget for road maintenance.

Nicaragua Compact

A transportation project aimed to reduce travel costs and better link producers to national, regional, and global markets, and also improve community access to markets and social services by upgrading 68 kilometers of roads and highways.

Niger Compact

By upgrading the roads linked to MCC improved irrigation perimeters, and improving a key highway connecting Niger to Benin, agricultural and other producers will have better access to domestic and international input and product markets.

Philippines Compact

A secondary national roads project aimed to reduce transportation costs and provide additional economic opportunities to residents in one of the most poverty-stricken and most typhoon-prone rural regions of the country.

Senegal Compact

A roads project was designed to connect major population centers and agricultural production areas of Senegal and neighboring countries by rehabilitating 372 kilometers of roads on two critical transport corridors.

Tanzania Compact

A transport sector project was designed to improve Tanzania’s road network, which serves a widely dispersed population in order to reduce transport costs, increase cash crop revenue and facilitate access to social services.

Vanuatu Compact

This compact aimed to reduce travel times and vehicle operating costs by reconstructing and sealing 149.7 km along two national roads, the Efate Ring Road and the Santo East Coast Road, and supporting and policy and institutional reform initiatives.

What Have We Completed So Far?

MCC and its country partners develop and tailor Monitoring and Evaluation Plans for each program and country context. Within these country-specific plans, MCC uses common indicators to standardize measurement and reporting within certain sectors. See below for a subset of common indicators that summarize implementation achievements across all MCC transportation investments as of December 2022.

4,773

kilometers of roads under design

4,260

kilometers of roads under works contracts

3,563

kilometers of roads completed

What Have We Achieved?

MCC commissions independent evaluations, conducted by third-party evaluators, for every project it funds. These evaluations hold MCC and country partners accountable for the achievement of intended results and also produce evidence and learning to inform future programming. They investigate the quality of project implementation, the achievement of the project objective and other targeted outcomes, and the cost-effectiveness of the project. The graphs below summarize the composition and status of MCC’s independent evaluations in the transportation sector as of November 2022. Read on to see highlights of published interim and final evaluations. Follow the evaluation links to see the status of all planned, ongoing, and completed evaluations in the sector and to access the reports, summaries, survey materials, and data sets.

Go to our List of Evaluations to see the status of MCC’s transportation sector evaluations

Highlighted Evaluations

A three lane paved road curving around a mountain

April 1, 2022 | El Salvador Compact

Connecting northern El Salvador through road improvements

High quality roads reduced travel time, but road usage has not met projections

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $449.6 million El Salvador Compact (2007-2012) funded the $268 million Connectivity Project to build, improve, or rehabilitate 23 bridges and 223 kilometers of road. The project was based on the theory that improving road quality would lead to reduced travel costs and decreased travel time, leading to increased use of the road. Increased usage of the road would then enable communities to participate more fully in the national and regional economy.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

A tractor drives on a paved road

December 9, 2021 | Senegal Compact

Unlocking Market Access via Road in Senegal 

Reduced travel times have not yet led to reduced transport costs for users

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $540 million Senegal Compact (2010–2015) funded the $324 million Roads Rehabilitation Project. The Roads Rehabilitation Project improved 372 kilometers of strategic highways and river crossings in the north and south of the country. The project was based on the theory that improvements in road infrastructure would reduce travel times and vehicle operating costs for road users, improving access to markets and services, which would in turn support economic growth and improve outcomes for local people.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

A van drives on a Mongolian road, passing a sign with information about the Mongolia Compact.

December 14, 2020 | Mongolia Compact

Improving Roads to Reduce Transportation Costs in Mongolia

Road upgrades reduced transport costs but preventative maintenance is unlikely

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $269 million Mongolia Compact (2008–2013) funded the $75 million North-South (N-S) Road Project to reduce transportation costs along a critical corridor between Russia and China by constructing a 176.4 km all-weather road section from Choir to Sainshand and by providing the Government of Mongolia with technical assistance and equipment for road maintenance. The project theorized that these outputs would decrease road roughness, travel times, and vehicle operating costs and increase traffic.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

Short- and long-haul buses waiting to load passengers at the bus station in Tunduma, providing service along the Tunduma – Sumbawanga road.

October 30, 2020 | Tanzania Compact

Upgrading Transport Networks in Tanzania

Paving roads increased trade and mobility, but not all were cost-effective

  • Evaluation Type:
  • Evaluation Status: Final

MCC’s $695 million Tanzania Compact (2008-2013) funded the $405 million Transport Sector Project, which upgraded trunk roads in mainland Tanzania, rural roads on Pemba Island, and the Mafia Island Airport runway. 190 km of roads were completed at compact close, with the remaining 278 km later completed by the Government of Tanzania. The project aimed to increase cash crop revenue in mainland Tanzania and Pemba, and increase tourist spending on Mafia Island by reducing transportation costs.

Read Evaluation Details or the Evaluation Brief

Go to our Evaluation Brief page to see all completed transportation sector evaluations

What Have We Learned from Our Results?

To link the evidence from the independent evaluations with MCC practice, project staff produce an MCC Learning document at the close of each interim and final evaluation to capture practical lessons for programming and evaluation. Use the filters below to find lessons relevant to your evidence needs.

  • Georgia Compact

    Optimize value of road investment through better design and quality control during construction: Limited sections of the Samtskhe-Javakheti road have experienced premature pavement failure after rehabilitation during the Defects Notification Period.

    Optimize value of road investment through better design and quality control during construction: Limited sections of the Samtskhe-Javakheti road have experienced premature pavement failure after rehabilitation during the Defects Notification Period. The potential causes of such failure were traced to design issues and as well as to lapses in quality control during construction. Establishing and enforcing an MCC standard for design review, which incorporates a greater level of technical expertise, could help to identify possible design deficiencies early on in the project development phase. In addition to more rigorous oversight processes, it is important to strongly enforce quality assurance and control requirements, as well as consider alternative forms of engineering contracts and project delivery systems to improve the quality of contractor feasibility, design and supervision.

  • El Salvador Compact

    MCC should explore the use of relatively low-cost methods of monitoring key intermediate outcomes, such as continued regular traffic counts, to better inform the time-pattern and composition of road impacts.

    MCC should explore the use of relatively low-cost methods of monitoring key intermediate outcomes, such as continued regular traffic counts, to better inform the time-pattern and composition of road impacts. While few if any detectable welfare/income benefits accrued over the time period studied, longer-term impacts cannot yet be ruled out. MCC, along with other donors, have learned that the time pattern of rural road investment benefits can be slower than was projected in this study. Since these findings do not distinguish between small total benefits, or slow realization of benefits, the magnitude of the full eventual benefits remains uncertain. More frequent monitoring of key intermediate outcomes could inform the appropriate time to conduct a follow-up household survey where significant household impacts are expected.

  • Ghana Compact

    Don’t force investments to fit into one stated objective and associated project/theory of change when they logically do not – separate into a different project.

    Don’t force investments to fit into one stated objective and associated project/theory of change when they logically do not – separate into a different project. The evaluation showed the N1 Highway Activity was very successful at reducing transportation costs. However, because the investment was proposed late and the compact planners wanted it to fit into the existing theory of change, the stated objective of the Transportation Project of which is was a part (“to reduce transportation costs for agricultural commerce”) did not make logical sense for the N1 Highway and it is not likely that it was achieved by the N1 Highway.

    There was an attempt to synchronize the logic of the full compact (agriculture + roads), but that did not materialize. It increases risk when the success of one investment relies on another, and this situation should be avoided. In the case of Ghana, the success of the roads investments was predicated on increased traffic resulting from the compact’s agriculture investments. The results of the agriculture investments were limited: the farmer training activities were not well targeted, and the irrigation investments induced limited shift to growing high-valued crops, and so it is not surprising that the evaluation found neither the Trunk Roads Activity nor the Feeder Roads Activity to be cost effective. Furthermore, some of the agriculture investments were spatially detached from the roads investments, making this theory of change even more unrealistic.

  • Senegal Compact

    Disconnect between the Agriculture/Irrigation program logic and Roads program logic.

    Disconnect between the Agriculture/Irrigation program logic and Roads program logic. Although both projects were designed to complement each other, the evaluation findings failed to show direct connection between the two sets of activities, and as such questions on trade of agricultural products were not sufficiently addressed.

    MCC now combines evaluations of all inter-dependent activities to minimize gaps in findings between those activities.

  • Nicaragua Compact

    It is critical to comprehensively address policy and institutional constraints in road maintenance as well as seek assurances from the partner countries that the necessary mechanisms to ensure sustainability of their existing roadway network are in place prior to MCC committing to a capital-intensive road investment project.

    It is critical to comprehensively address policy and institutional constraints in road maintenance as well as seek assurances from the partner countries that the necessary mechanisms to ensure sustainability of their existing roadway network are in place prior to MCC committing to a capital-intensive road investment project.

How Have We Aggregated Learning Across the Sector?

MCC has developed a Principles into Practice paper using evidence from completed independent evaluations in the transportation sector – Principles into Practice: Lessons from MCC’s Investments in Roads. The Principles into Practice series offers a frank look at what it takes to make the principles MCC considers essential for development operational in the projects in which MCC invests. The learning captured in this paper informs MCC’s ongoing efforts to refine and strengthen its own model and development practice in the transportation sector. MCC hopes this paper will also allow others to benefit from, and build upon, MCC’s lessons.