Cairo’s streets, once crowded with corner cafés, kiosks, and the ebb and flow of pedestrians, are giving way to sweeping change. In some neighborhoods in Downtown Cairo and Heliopolis, historic streets have been replaced by overpasses and widened roads. A surge of flyovers has turned walkable streets into car corridors, erasing green spaces, and pushing residents to the city’s margins, ultimately stripping away the pedestrian life that once gave the city its character. Since 2014, the Egyptian government has embarked on a large-scale infrastructure plan. Thousands of kilometers of new roads and bridges are transforming the city. From 2014 to 2024, Egypt has built 945 bridges and tunnels at a cost of EGP 132 billion (USD 2.7 billion), according to a statement by the Ministry of Transport. Though aimed at easing congestion and promoting the use of public transportation, these plans can result in the loss of leafy streets and undermine community life. In the Heliopolis neighborhood, the historic tram system was removed in 2019, and streets were widened for highway integration. The densely populated neighborhood of Heliopolis has witnessed the rise of multiple bridges and overpasses in 2019, cutting…
The Loss of Cairo’s Street Life: When Roads Replace Neighborhoods
August 30, 2025
By Nadine Tag
Journalist
