Transport and infrastructure in Uruguay
Our listing of the primary types of transport compares the infrastructure of Uruguay with the average of all countries in America. Overall, the main traffic and transport routes are well developed and in comparatively good condition.In terms of the length of its rail network, Uruguay ranks 36th in the world with 0.49 meters per inhabitant. In total, the rail network is 1,673 kilometers long. Passenger traffic reached 8.00 million passenger-kilometers in 2015.
The waterways listed refer to inland traffic on rivers and canals. The number of ports includes those located on the 660 km of coastline. In 2020, about 761,855 freight containers were transported.
› Airports in Uruguay
Back to overview: Uruguay
Road traffic
The network of roads and highways has a total length of 77,732 km. For each of the country's 3.43 million inhabitants, this corresponds to 22.69 meters. This puts Uruguay in 19th place in the global ranking. However, it is also important to note that the country's population density is very low at around 19 inhabitants per km². In this case, disproportionately long distances generally have to be covered to reach the more remote parts of the country.With an average of 522 traffic fatalities per year (2013 - 2019), road traffic in Uruguay is considered rather mixed. This corresponds to 15.3 accident fatalities per 100,000 inhabitants per year. By comparison, this figure is 12.3 in the USA and 17.0 worldwide.
In Uruguay, traffic drives on the right-hand side of the road, i.e. people drive in the right-hand lane and overtake on the left. Oncoming traffic comes toward you on the left side. This regulation was enforced on September 2nd, 1945. Here you can also find an overview of all countries with left-hand traffic.
Uruguay | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 77,700 km | 22,687.13 km | 441.11 m |
| Railroads | 1,700 km | 488.29 km | 9.49 m |
| Waterways | 1,600 km | 466.98 km | 9.08 m |
| Commercial harbors | 61 | 17.80 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 1 | 0.29 | 0.006 |
South America | |||
| total | per 1 mio inhabitants | per km² | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roadways | 3,101,100 km | 7,134.46 km | 174.14 m |
| Railroads | 85,100 km | 195.82 km | 4.78 m |
| Waterways | 119,400 km | 274.61 km | 6.70 m |
| Commercial harbors | 2,227 | 5.12 | 0.000 |
| Airports | 330 | 0.76 | 0.000 |
Data sources used
• Global Health Observatory Data Repository (World Health Organization)• UNCTAD
• Internation Union of Railways (UIC)
• CIA Factbook
• OECD Statistics
• Wikipedia (german)
Largest airports and airlines in Uruguay
Climate details in Uruguay
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