Motorists who use Nairobi’s Uhuru Highway will be forced to spend long hours on the road after the Kenya Highway Authority (Kenha) extended the closure of a section of the busy highway by 21 days.
According to Kenha, the closure, which begins on April 30, will continue until May 20, due to the ongoing construction of the Nairobi Expressway.
The 21-day traffic disruption will affect the section between Bunyala roundabout and the Nyayo Stadium roundabout.
“There will be traffic disruption along Liberty Highway from Friday, April 30, 2021, to Thursday, May 20. Motorists are advised to use alternative routes. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause as we strive to provide a secure, secure and reliable network,” Kenha Director-General Peter Mundinia said in a statement.
The closure will commence just a day after another 20-day closure which began on April 9 and ended on April 29.
Motorists leaving town using Uhuru Highway will have to use Bunyala Road-Workshop Road-Lusaka then join Mombasa Road at the Nyayo roundabout.
Already, there have been traffic snarl-ups along Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki Way caused by the construction of the Nairobi Expressway, with motorists using either the Industrial Area, Jogoo Road, or South B as alternative routes into and out of town.
A fortnight ago, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said what users of the road are experiencing is only short-time pain.
"In the meantime, I know there are a lot of inconveniences as people are spending longer hours in traffic but the reason we are constructing the Nairobi Expressway is to solve the traffic jam that was there before. If there was no traffic congestion before there would be no justification to construct the highway. This pain we are having now is very short-term pain," he said.
People using Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki Way are the most affected.
For Kenya to achieve this dream, users of the road will have to endure a year of pain in traffic jams. China Road and Bridge Corporation is building the Sh62 billion expressway.
The road project, which is currently at an advanced stage, will see Kenyans pay a small price for the greater good for the 27km stretch, whose construction will ensure "seamless flow of traffic", among other economic benefits, according to the CS.
Construction work has over the past year burdened road users with long hours in traffic, with motorists having to contend with disruptions.
