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The unprecedented increase in population and urbanization dynamics, particularly without the requisite road infrastructure on the African continent, necessitates a more contextual understanding of the interaction between urban expansion and transportation in its cities. The study used Landsat and Google Earth, two readily available data in a resource-constrained context, and population data from 1999 to 2018 to estimate the interactions among roads stock, urban size and corresponding population changes in Akure, a mid-sized capital city in Nigeria, with substantial federal road connectivity. The results suggest strong positive relationships among all the variables of interest. At α = 10%, an increase in road stock causes a significant (p = 0.064) increase in population. The study reveals a heavier road density as the city expanded, slightly reduced from the core, with an increased stock of roads toward the periphery …