The length of the route is of which 83% or has been paved according to African Union documents, or with paved, according to African Development Bank reports. There are about 9 unpaved sections, but some paved sections require reconstruction. All are two-lane highways with the exception of short four-lane highways in the eastern third of the route. The ADB reports published in 2003 say that 32% of the highway is in poor condition, 9% is good and 59% is fair. Reconstruction of the segment in Lagos, Nigeria began in 2010, and when it is complete that section will be ten lanes wide.
The cities and countries served, and status of the road are as follows. Please note that a paved alternate route Dakar-Bamako-Abidjan is more practical. Information about construction required is from two sources: the ECOWAS website, undated document, and the ADB website, consultancy report date August 2003. Note: 'spur' indicates the city is on a spur off the main alignment of the highway, 'existing' could mean a pre-existing national road has been adopted for the route or a section has been newly constructed.
Banjul, The Gambia – existing, some sections with pavement missing, through The Gambia then southern Senegal to:
Bissau, Guinea-Bissau – existing to Quebo, with a short new section required to the Guinea border where a major bridge over the Kogon River was planned for construction to start in 2004;
a new section in Guinea is needed from the border to Boké;
in Sierra Leone reconstruction of from Pamalap to Freetown is required, the section to Bandajuma is existing, of new road is required with a new bridge over the Moa River to Zimmi, continuing to the Liberian border;
in Liberia, the section though Monrovia inland to Ganta is existing, with a new section required of about, Ganta-Tappita-Tobli-Côte d'Ivoire border;
in Côte d'Ivoire a new section is needed from the Liberian border through Toulépleu to Blolekin, while the road from there through Yamoussoukro and Abidjan to the Ghanaian border is complete:
in Ghana the road is existing through Cape Coast and Accra to the border with Togo, and east from Akatsi to Dzodze is being replaced by a new road parallel to the old;
the through Togo is being replaced by a new road by-passing Lomé on the north side;
, Mali and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso are already linked to the coastal highway by paved highways to Abidjan, Accra and Lomé. Lagos is linked via the largest network of paved highways in West Africa, the national road network of Nigeria, with links to the neighbouring countries of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The Trans-Sahelian Highway is another ECOWAS project running parallel to the coastal highway linking the Sahelian countries of West Africa from Dakar to Ndjamena, Chad. Two other transnational roads are also under development from Lagos to link to the Trans–West African Coastal Highway:
, which still requires a long paved section through the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Trans–West African Coastal Highway could then be regarded as the western end of a route spanning the continent from its western extremity virtually to its eastern extremity for a total distance of.
