New dual Outer Ring Road opened to traffic
Ongoing expansion of Outer Ring Road in Nairobi on October 3, 2016. Sections of the road have been opened to motorists. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Mr Kinoti told the media that the opening of the section would improve accessibility to the eastern part of the city.
Residents of Eastlands are set to breathe a sigh of relief after the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (Kura) re-opened sections of Outer Ring Road, which is under construction, to traffic on Friday.
Kura announced that they had opened the newly constructed dual-carriageway and road users could now drive from GSU headquarters at Ruaraka on Thika Superhighway to Taj Mall (Eastern Bypass/Mombasa Road) without a hitch.
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Saying the road serves 60 per cent or more than 2.6 million Nairobi residents, Kura acting Director-General Silas Kinoti told the media that the opening of the section would improve accessibility to the eastern part of the city.
That will ease traffic and cut travel time for commuters, saving them the agony they had been going through for the past decade due to gridlocks on the busy road.
“It will reduce travel time for commuters, ease traffic and travel time from Ruaraka to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, which used to take two hours, to under 20 minutes as the gridlocks have been eliminated,” Mr Kinoti said.
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“It will also improve property value and business environment for formal and informal traders.”
The engineer said most of the Sh8 billion road project that was launched in 2015 is 83.1 per cent complete.
He added that the project would meet the September deadline with the only major remaining works being the Jogoo Road interchange.
