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WHEELED EVOLUTION

Aug 9 , 2026.

A bike lane once foreign to Addis Abeba is now busy serving its intended purpose, and then some. Along African Avenue, beside the walls of the Skylight Hotel, a man rides a small electric scooter while another pushes a two-wheeled wheelbarrow loaded with cement sacks along the same lane. Intended exclusively for cyclists, the lane has become an unlikely meeting point for two forms of wheeled transport, leaving one to wonder whether the rules call for a citation or applause. The scene captures a quiet contrast in Ethiopia's changing streetscape: the electric scooter represents a newer way of moving through the city, while the humble wheelbarrow remains an everyday tool for construction workers. Yet, in an unexpected display of discipline, pedestrians keep to the pavement, leaving the bike lane to those, whether riding or pushing, with wheels beneath them.


PUBLISHED ON Aug 09,2026 [ VOL 27 , NO 1371]

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