Widen Nakuru-Naivasha highway to ease traffic jams, motorists urge
Motorists have asked the Kenya National Highways Authority to consider refurbishing the Nakuru-Nairobi highway to ease traffic jams on the road. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- KNCCI Nakuru County Chairman said the chamber of commerce is concerned that the persistent traffic jams could drive away investors from Nakuru and other towns situated along the busy highway.
- Mr Njuguna cited the Gilgil weighbridge as one of the areas where huge traffic jams were being experienced causing both public service and private vehicles to spend long hours on the road.
- Earlier this year, KENHA disclosed that plans were underway to expand the highway into a dual carriageway.
The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KNCCI) wants the old Nakuru-Naivasha highway rehabilitated to help reduce traffic snarl-ups at the Gilgil weighbridge.
KNCCI and motorists have asked the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) to refurbish the highway to reduce traffic jams which are frequent over the weekends and during holidays.
“The road if rehabilitated can be used by trailers in a bid to reduce the perennial traffic jams on the highway. We call upon KeNHA to help ease the situation,” said the outgoing KNCCI Nakuru County Chairman Kamau Njuguna.
He said the chamber of commerce is concerned that the persistent traffic jams could drive away investors from Nakuru and other towns situated along the busy highway.
Mr Njuguna cited the Gilgil weighbridge as one of the areas where huge traffic jams were being experienced causing both public service and private vehicles to spend long hours on the road.
“The traffic jams cause delays where a five-hour journey ends up taking 10 hours especially over the weekends,” lamented Mr Njuguna who spoke on Wednesday evening in a phone interview with the Nation.
His words have been echoed by Mr Michael Ngugi a spokesman of truck drivers who told the Nation that the weighbridge was becoming a liability, a bother and a deterrent to investors.
Mr Njuguna questioned the occurrence of jams on weekends, adding that plans should be made by KeNHA to expand the section of the road near the weigh bridge.
“The traffic jams have led to lose of hundreds of man-hours. Investors are losing a lot as they trade along the route,” he said.
A study by International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation in 2012 revealed Kenya loses Sh 50 million in a day due to time wasted on the road during traffic jams.
According to the chairman of the implementation committee in the Nakuru County Assembly Simon Wanyoike, they had raised the issue with government agencies on several occasions but nothing has happened so far.
Earlier this year, KeNHA through its director-general Engineer Peter M Mundinia disclosed that plans are underway to expand the highway into a dual carriageway under a Public Private Partnership model to improve the flow of traffic to Western Kenya and beyond.
The narrow highway that links the country’s capital city, Western Kenya and Uganda has sometimes suffered painful gridlocks lasting for hours and deadly accidents, mainly from head-on collisions especially at the Sobea-Salgaa-Kibunjia black spot.
Motorists using the highway stretch between Nakuru and Naivasha have in the past called for expansion of the section of the highway to ensure trucks use their lanes as a means of curbing frequent road carnage at the area.
