Within the framework of two national development programmes (National de Développement and Renaissance des Infrastructures en Côte d’Ivoire), Ivory Coast's government resolved to continue development on the A3 highway, which already links the southern economic metropolis of Abidjan  with the more northerly capital city Yamoussoukro. The new stretch of road is to go from the capital to Bouaké, the third largest city in the country. It lies in the middle of Ivory Coast and is within reach of Liberia and Guinea to the west, Mali and Burkina Faso to the north and Ghana in the east.

The West African Finance and Currency Union started by hiring H.P. Gauff Ingenieure GmbH & Co KG to conduct a feasibility study. Research to ascertain the best route produced three variations, each complete with full costing including pre-planning and final designs and the corresponding tender documents. In addition to the national highway a further 18.5km of  high-speed roadway connecting the highway to the city centres was planned. A two-lane carriageway in each direction was specified (expandable to three lanes) plus a median strip and hard shoulder. The planners had a tight 18 months to complete their designs.

Planning proceeded according to the regulatory framework laid down by ICTAAL (Instruction sur les conditions techniques d’aménagement des autoroutes de liaison), the technical guidelines for motorway and overland roadway planning, and ICTAVRU (Instruction sur les conditions techniques d’aménagement des voies rapides urbaines), the regulations for heavily frequented urban areas.

Despite the extremely tight deadline and the chaos of planning, the work was completed on time thanks to the surveying and design software card_1. Its flexibility was of particular value when adding and checking the numerous additional surveys necessary due to changes in design - right up to two weeks before the deadline. card_1's ability to generate the huge number of designs required also proved an enormous advantage. As was its ability to copy and move alignment groups when designing intersections and market places. These functions were vital to delivering the plans on time. The designs were submitted to the client as pdf or dwg files. The experts working for the local partner HydroCO, responsible for geology, hydraulics and construction, delivered the sketches, the planning was done with card_1.