Traffic-wise, Kampala’s Southern and South-Eastern areas are strategically discriminated against.

If you want to get from say Bugolobi to Mulago, you can bypass the Kampala Road mess by means of a comfortable dual carriageway: Yusuf Lule Road. On a larger scale, if your destination is Bukoto, you use Lugogo Bypass. And to reach Ntinda, Northern Bypass has recently been opened. Three pretty efficient roads, concentrically arranged, relieving the city centre of unnecessary through traffic.

That is if you live in Bugolobi.

South of the railways, life is quite different. Try to get from Najjanankumbi to Makerere; from Kansanga to Wandegeya; or from Makindye to Nakasero. There is no way you can avoid the city centre. You will either use Queens Way and turn onto Kampala Road, or you’ll squeeze through Ben Kiwanuka Street. Both of which you’d rather avoid.

What is missing is a ‘mirrored Yusuf Lule’ (and subsequently, a mirrored Lugogo and Northern Bypass – we’ll get to those in later posts).

Lucky enough, the corridor for this missing link already exists: The beautiful Nakivubo Channel! The idea to effectively hide this open drain and develop it into something else is not new and makes perfect sense. Of course not, as some Town Hall nutcase previously suggested, by giving it to private investors to cover it with some more of those arcades that already litter Luwum Street. Instead, it should be turned into a dual carriageway and commercial development should take place next to it.

Introducing Canal Street: