Building of Thika Highway footbridges to end in June

Work on four additional footbridges on Thika Highway, which will cost Sh820 million, is set to end in June in a move aimed at reducing pedestrian fatalities on the busy road.

The Kenya National Highway Authority (Kenha) awarded the contract to Interways Works Limited and Fourways Construction Limited last March.

The footbridges are being build at Survey of Kenya (just before the junction to the Kenya School of Monetary Studies), the Garden Estate Junction, Witeithie, and Mang’u areas.

“We are still on the timelines and expect to finish by June. People may not understand this because the steel bridges are being done in China. They will arrive in March as we fix them,” said Kenha Director General Peter Mundinia. The bridges building work on the Sh36 billion Thika Highway — which traverses Kasarani, Githurai, Ruiru and Juja ending at Thika River Bridge — has been ongoing since last year.

Lack of adequate footbridges has resulted in unnecessary deaths as pedestrians are hit by vehicles as they cross the highway, especially at night.

The director-general said that such accidents will be a thing of the past once building the footbridges is completed.

“In the meantime, we have clearly marked areas where the public can cross. Once the super structures are in place in the next three months, no more pedestrian fatalities will be witnessed on this road,” he said.

Interways Works Limited is constructing the Witeithie and Mang’u footbridges at a cost of Sh430 million while Fourway Construction Limited is building the Survey of Kenya and Garden City footbridges at a cost of Sh390 million.

The agency is expected to remove safety bumps installed on the highway once the footbridges are complete.

Last year, the High Court ordered removal of speed bumps on the highway to ease traffic.

The court order targeted bumps at Survey of Kenya, Homeland, and Kenya Breweries after Nairobi governor Mike Sonko sued the county government in 2015 while he served as Senator.