Respite for motorists using Lusaka, Bunyala roundabouts

Nairobi governor Evans Kidero has ordered temporary removal of traffic barriers on the Lusaka and Bunyala roundabouts, offering reprieve to motorists who have had to grapple with massive traffic congestion since Saturday.

The barriers, which were erected last week in an effort to ease traffic jams by restricting turns at selected roundabouts, were set to be removed last night but will be returned on Friday once the Southern bypass is re-opened.

Mr Kidero said the traffic congestion experienced was directly related to the weekend’s decision to close the Southern bypass.

The closure was done to help hasten construction of a section of the road which is expected to be completed this week after which all heavy commercial trucks will be barred from using Uhuru Highway.

“What we didn’t anticipate is that even as bad as it was (Southern bypass), it was taking quite a bit of traffic and pressure from Uhuru Highway and in the last two days we’ve seen a fairly huge build-up of traffic on Lusaka and Bunyala,” said Mr Kidero.

“That has necessitated that we review our strategy. So, effective tomorrow (today) we will remove the barriers that restricted (right) turns on the roundabouts on Bunyala and Lusaka for the next three days.”

On Monday evening, motorists spent up to five hours stuck in traffic on the Mombasa Road- Uhuru Highway stretch and connecting roads like Lang’ata.

This prompted a huge outcry and calls for removal of the barriers christened ‘Kidero’s Drums’ on social media. Barriers at the Westlands roundabout, the Riverside Drive turn-off at Chiromo and the Khoja roundabout on Tom Mboya Street will however remain. Mr Kidero said that in these areas they had recorded relative success.

READ: Roundabouts to go as Nairobi aims to tackle heavy traffic

Acting Transport secretary James Macharia said Sh25 million has been released to the Southern bypass contractor to complete the gravelling works by Friday.

“I’m told they are working 14 hours a day to make sure that we can deal with this issue within the agreed timelines to announce the diversion by Friday,” he said.

The barriers were erected as a stop-gap measure until City Hall and the Transport ministry replace the roundabouts with signalised intersections.

The Sh388 million plan involves the removal of the Lusaka, Bunyala, Haile Selassie, Kenyatta Avenue and University Way roundabouts. Mr Kidero said the designs for the intersections were complete and that work would start in a week.

“Within the next one week we will start construction of the signalised intersections,” he said.

He however did not say which roundabout would be replaced first, only stating that they would be done in sequence to avoid bringing the city to a halt.

In a previous interview, county Transport executive said that removal of a roundabout will take between two days and a week.