The Nairobi Expressway was said to be opening last week, but the Business Daily debunked it with a statement from the Kenya National Highways Authority.
Improved connection for the transit of goods, services, and people between Nairobi and the entire Northern Corridor is predicted to be one of the immediate benefits.
The integration of computer and communication breakthroughs into current road transportation systems is referred to as smart highways and intelligent transportation systems (ITS).
The Nairobi Expressway was said to be opening last week, but the Business Daily debunked it with a statement from the Kenya National Highways Authority.
There is a lot of excitement, anticipation, and expectation surrounding this massive endeavour. Once finished, the road project will connect Mlolongo town and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway spanning 27 kilometres.
This is a component of the Northern Corridor, which transports 85 percent of freight to Uganda, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
Improved connection for the transit of goods, services, and people between Nairobi and the entire Northern Corridor is predicted to be one of the immediate benefits.
This will improve Nairobi’s economic vitality and cement its status as a commercial centre by easing traffic flow and decreasing congestion along Mombasa Road, Uhuru Highway and Waiyaki Way.
Therefore, Kenya is painstakingly developing an alternative and parallel global institutional infrastructure comparable to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The expressway is a far cry from our traditional routes that rely on aged technology. We are progressing toward technical improvements that will drastically alter the transportation experience. And that is an inch closer to smart highways and intelligent transport systems expected to improve safety, traffic flow and environmental sustainability.
The integration of computer and communication breakthroughs into current road transportation systems is referred to as smart highways and intelligent transportation systems (ITS). Such smart roadways can address the rising road fatalities and hours spent in traffic bottlenecks.
These roads are designed to provide a smooth flow of traffic, resulting in lower fuel use and fewer roadways. Reducing the time spent stuck in traffic benefits the economy.
With the expressway in place, it’s time to look at integrating computer and communication technology. Here, information on road conditions can be provided directly to drivers via devices.
One such device is traffic lights — they can be used to gather and disseminate information regarding traffic, emergency vehicles, speed restrictions, and severe weather, among others. This information can be used to make suitable decisions.
Incorporating closed-circuit TV cameras into traffic control can help in creating traffic predictions, the use of real-time navigation systems that combine historical data with current information on the road.
And maybe the time is ripe for autonomous cars, whose development began aeons ago, to complement the Nairobi Expressway.
The autonomous car's movement was started by Google’s self-driving car project, which has now evolved into WayMo’s utterly autonomous vehicle.
With so many start-ups and hi-tech businesses setting up in Nairobi, we should brace for autonomous vehicles that are less prone to accidents, use less fuel, and don’t need to travel long distances, allowing for improved traffic flow.
This intelligent transportation system is aided by having in place a check-and-balance mechanism — a toll system, which has been shown to be effective.
Hence, it’s hardly unexpected that the Transport Cabinet secretary James Macharia gazetted the expressway’s base toll rates. The figures indicated appear to be based on distance travelled.
There is a need for a re-evaluation of the toll parameter to incorporate and introduce other methods of tolling such as having a lane for High Occupancy Vehicles to encourage the use of carpooling and public transport systems, as well as involve more stakeholders, such as private motorcycles above 400cc.
Tolling should also be innovative enough to consider raising the charge as a lane becomes more congested, lowering gridlock.
All of this will be possible only if the present regulatory intellectual property framework is rigorously enforced.
The expressway can stimulate the growth of indigenous industries on a micro-level and in turn, attract foreign direct investment at the macro level. As a result, more technology and knowledge may be transferred, technical collaboration expanded, more jobs, human capital development expedited, and tax revenues boosted.
To summarise, the highway has the potential to facilitate worldwide and regional intellectual property collaboration.
Mutua K Mutuku, Data compliance and intellectual property law expert
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