Urban freight mobility challenges and logistics circuit optimization for sustainable city development in Ouagadougou, West Africa

Freight mobility is vital to urban logistics, particularly in rapidly growing cities across developing countries. This study investigates the impacts of rapid urban sprawl on freight transportation systems in Ouagadougou. It explores the optimization of logistic circuits for sustainable urban development. Using a combination of geospatial analysis and traffic data, the city’s growth patterns and their effects on freight flows are analyzed, including the mobility externalities associated with current logistics practices. The routes optimization model suggests an efficient delivery circuit, aiming to reduce times, emissions, and congestion. The results highlight a rapid radial expansion of the city, with an increase in urban area of approximately 500 km² between 2000 and 2024, indicating uncontrolled urbanization characterized by fragmented delivery routes and congestion hotspots. This situation exacerbates urban mobility challenges, with a congestion index of 0.29 and the city accounting for about 60% of national urban road accidents, most of which occur between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. To minimize externalities, the mobility scenario suggests that goods vehicles from the city’s entries can move within the time slots from 9 pm to 6 am, and from 1 to 3 pm during the week. Alternatively, the logistic circuit optimization plans suggest a shortest path for goods vehicles from a single origin-destination (O-D) pair independently, reflecting a user equilibrium with a time gain ranging from 2 to 3.4 min. While these gains demonstrate the efficiency potential of route-level optimization, they also reveal its limitations when considered in isolation. Achieving sustainable urban freight mobility in line with SDG11 requires a holistic approach that integrates freight mobility with the city’s spatial dynamics, traffic conditions, and enforcement mechanisms.