Ministry to block exits to ease congestion on Thika Road
What you need to know:
Another cause of the slowdown around the area is the huge bump and rumble strips as vehicles approach the Pangani tunnel – along Murang'a Road – that leads to the city centre and branches out into Forest Road.
Roads PS Michael Kamau said in response to a Business Daily query that the section of road would be re-made such that vehicles do not attempt to divert into the tunnel when they have already taken the service lane from Muthaiga junction.
Traffic gridlock being experienced between Muthaiga Police Station and Pangani is set to be curbed when vehicles on the service lane will be blocked from joining the highway leading to Forest Road towards the city centre.
Completion of the Thika Superhighway was expected to bring an end to traffic jams that were encountered along the busy Nairobi-Thika road.
Another cause of the slowdown around the area is the huge bump and rumble strips as vehicles approach the Pangani tunnel – along Murang'a Road – that leads to the city centre and branches out into Forest Road.
The permanent secretary at the Ministry of Roads Michael Kamau said in response to a Business Daily query that the section of road would be re-made such that vehicles do not attempt to divert into the tunnel when they have already taken the service lane from Muthaiga junction.
"Since the road design seems to allow it, some vehicles even attempt to cross from the highway into the service lane and into Pangani estate or on the way to join Racecourse Road. The blocking of the exits would seek to stop this as well," Mr Kamau said.
“We have noticed that vehicles cross the road to join the highway from the service lane and this is causing quite some traffic jam. Others exit the highway into the service lane. We are going to block those exits. You also notice that the bumps are slowing down the vehicles. We will address all this,” said Mr Kamau.
While the main congestion starts at the road adjacent to Muthaiga Police Station and Mathari Hospital, on some days it stretches all the way to Utalii Hotel on the same highway in the morning hours especially between 7.30am and 8.30am.
Areas where there are bumps along the highway also tend to have traffic jams as vehicles approach, slowing all other traffic behind them.
Vehicles coming from Eastleigh’s Mlango Kubwa area, in bid to avoid Racecourse Road, have also been passing through Pangani just before the entry to the tunnel as they force themselves into the highway leading to the city centre, causing vehicles on the service lanes to slow down.
The Business Daily spoke to Mr Kamau after he had attended a Sh25.5 billion loan-signing ceremony with the World Bank for the financing of the reconstruction of the JKIA-Rironi highway.
During the ceremony, Roads minister Franklin Bett said the relocation of sewerage, water and power utilities – which was not originally planned for – along Thika Road during the reconstruction of the highway had cost Sh2.5 billion.
President Kibaki is set to commission the new superhighway in November.
