Transport in Haiti

Railroads

In the past, Haiti used railroads, but today they are not not used.

Roads

Highways:
All of the major transportation systems in Haiti are located near or run through the capital. Haiti has two main highways that run from one end of the country to the other. The northern highway, Route Nationale #1 (National Highway One), originates in Port-au-Prince, winding through the coastal towns of Montrouis and Gonaïves, before reaching its terminus at the northern port Cap-Haïtien. The southern highway, Route Nationale #2, links Port-au-Prince with Les Cayes via Léogâne and Petit Goâve. Maintenance for these roads lapsed after the 1991 coup, prompting the World Bank to loan USD 50 million designated for road repairs. The project was canceled in January 1999, however, after auditors revealed corruption. Haiti also has a third major highway, the Route Nationale #3, which connects Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haitien via the towns of Mirebalais and Hinche. This route links the capital and Le Cap to the central plateau; however, due to its poor condition, it sees limited use.

"Total highways:" 4,161 km
"Paved highways:" 1,011 km
"Unpaved highways:" 3,149 km (1996 est.)

Public transportation:
The most common form of public transportation in Haiti is the use of brightly painted pickup trucks as taxis called "tap-taps" They are named this because when a passenger needs to be let off they use their coin money to tap the side of the vehicle and the driver usually stops. Most tap-taps are fairly priced at around 10-15 gourdes per ride within a city. The catch to the price is that the driver will often fill a truck to maximum capacity, which is nearly 20-30 people.

Water transport

History:
One of the oldest maritime histories in Americas.

Panama Railroad Company
The Panama Railroad Company (Panama line), which often is mis-related to be a railroad company in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was actually an owner of (owned by?) a railroad in Panama and a ship line with three ocean liners that traveled between New York (USA) - Port-au-Prince (Haiti) - Cristobal (Panama). Company had facilities in Port-au-Prince and their ocean liners stopped there. It has not had any known railroad operations in Haiti.

Three ocean liners were:
- S/S Panama (1939), maiden voyage 26 April 1939
- S/S Ancon (1939), maiden voyage 22 June 1939
- S/S Cristobal (1939), maiden voyage 17 August 1939

Waterways:
NEGL; less than 100 km navigable

Merchant Marine:
none (1999 est.)

Ports and Harbors:
Cap-Haitien, Gonaïves, Jacmel, Jérémie, Les Cayes, Miragoane, Port-au-Prince, Port-de-Paix, Saint-Marc, Fort Liberte

The port at Port-au-Prince has more registered shipping than any of the over dozen ports in the country. The port's facilities include cranes, large berths, and warehouses, but these facilities are in universally poor shape. The port is underused, possibly due to the substantially high port fees compared to ports in the Dominican Republic.

The port of Saint-Marc is currently the preferred port of entry for consumer goods coming into Haiti. Reasons for this may include its location away from volatile and congested Port-au-Prince, as well as its central location relative to a large group of Haitian cities including Cap-Haitien, Carrefour, Delmas, Desarmes, Fond-Parisien, Fort-Liberté, Gonaives, Hinche, l’Artibonite, Limbe, Pétionville, Port-de-Paix, and Verrettes. These cities, together with their surrounding areas, contain about six million of Haïti’s eight million people.

Links:
[http://www.angelfire.com/tx/CZAngelsSpace/PRRLinersOne.html Panama Railroad Liners Brochure]
[http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/Panama%20Three%20index.html Ocean Liner Museum - The Great Panama Three]
[http://www.czbrats.com/Articles/PRRline.htm The Panama Line History]

Aviation

:"See also: List of airports in Haiti, Port-au-Prince International Airport"

Airports:14 (2007 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
"total:" 4
"2,438 to 3,047 m:" 1
"914 to 1,523 m:" 3 (1999 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
"total:" 10
"914 to 1,523 m:" 1
"under 914 m:" 9 (2007 est.)

Toussaint Louverture International Airport (formerly known as Port-au-Prince International Airport), which opened in 1965 (as François Duvalier International Airport), is located 10 km North/North East of Port-au-Prince. It is Haiti's only jetway, and as such, handles the vast majority of the country's international flights. Air Haïti, Tropical Airways and a handful of major airlines from Europe, the Caribbean, and the Americas serve the airport.