Roads, rail among key projects shaping Uhuru’s legacy

Traffic jams have been part of Nairobi’s daily headache and were estimated to cost the economy Sh100 billion every year.

To curb this, President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government initiated and implemented various projects that upon completion (some already launched) will be a game changer.

Infrastructure has been largely mentioned as President Uhuru Kenyatta’s main achievement in his 10 years and Nairobi has benefited.

Making other options available for city dwellers, Uhuru oversaw the rehabilitation of the Nairobi Commuter Rail Service which serves three million people monthly up from 1.2 million people in the same period.

On November 10, 2020, the Sh1.2 billion project which is part of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project, was launched to help ease traffic congestion.

The main station in Central Business District will serve as the nerve centre of operations connecting 10 stations in satellite towns, including newly built stations in Donholm and Pipeline.

Currently, there are commuter train services on Nairobi - Imara Daima-Syokimau route, Nairobi - Githurai - Mwiki - Kahawa – Ruiru route, Nairobi-Embakasi route, and Nairobi - Kibera – Kikuyu route.

“Today marks a new dawn for transportation in our Metropolitan area. The enhancements will have tangible real-life benefits to residents. On average, the system will be transporting 30,000–40,000 people daily,” Uhuru said then.

At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, his administration embarked on a project to end traffic jams along Mombasa Road and Waiyaki Way.

The Sh89 billion Nairobi Expressway is a 27.1km road project beginning from Mlolongo through the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Nairobi’s CBD to Westland’s area along Waiyaki Way.

The dual carriageway has 11 interchanges at Mlolongo, Standard Gauge Railway, JKIA, Eastern Bypass, Southern Bypass, Capital Centre, Haile Selassie Avenue, Museum Hill, Westlands, and James Gichuru Road.

It is one of Kenya’s Public-Private Partnership road projects between China and Kenya.

The China Road and Bridge Corporation constructed the expressway.

Before its commissioning, Uhuru in December 2021 said Kenya’s relationship with China was a partnership of mutual benefit giving an example of the Nairobi expressway project.

“Our partnership is based on win-win and we are very grateful to the Chinese government for the Expressway,” he said then.

The expressway, with 18.2km on the ground and 8.9km elevated, is a Class A, four-lane dual carriageway with a design speed of 80km per hour.

Another plan by Uhuru was to make it possible and easy for motorists to transverse Nairobi without getting into the congested CBD and the city centre.

The government embarked on the dualling of the 16km Western Bypass which will shorten the distance from Kiambu to Kajiado, as it connects to the Southern Bypass.

The road will pass through several towns which include Gitaru, Wangige, Ndenderu and Ruaka, and is the fourth and final ring road in the Nairobi Ring Road Network Masterplan.

The project works also include the construction of about 17.31km of service roads and the construction of seven grade interchanges at Gitaru, Lower Kabete, Wangige, Kihara, Ndenderu, Rumenye and Ruaka.

This means that if one is coming from Thika, one will go through Muthaiga, then Red Hill and join the Bypass at Ruaka.

One can then go towards the west without having to go through the city centre.

It will soon take motorists less than 40 minutes to drive from Thika Road via Utawala to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

This is due to the expansion of the 28 km Eastern Bypass into a dual carriageway

The dualling of the bypass began in November 2020 after the signing of a contract between Kura and the China Communication Construction Company which will be completing the Sh12.5 billion project.

The project is expected to ease traffic along the busy Eastern Bypass, which serves the eastern side of Nairobi and diverts traffic from the city centre.

The Eastern Bypass starts at City Cabanas along Mombasa Road, linking motorists through Ruai towards Ruiru, passing over Thika Road to Ruaka where it joins the Northern bypass.

The bypass dualling project was among 11 major infrastructure initiatives Kenya showcased to international investors during the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in May 2017.

President Kenyatta is expected to commission the road on July 31.

The Northern Bypass has been described to be one of Kenya's major infrastructure projects aimed at making the country a regional business hub

The 31-km bypass starts from Ruaka trading centre along Limuru Road and overpasses Banana Road through Runda and Thome estates.

It then proceeds to Kahawa West and eventually to Ruiru through Kamae, where it joins the Eastern Bypass.

The China Road and Bridge Corp constructed the Nairobi Southern Bypass which was completed in 2016.

The 28.6-km bypass dual carriageway begins on the southern edges along Nairobi-Mombasa Road, passes through Gitaru in the northern part of the town and connects to the Western Bypass.

By constructing these roads, there is a complete Nairobi circular ring where one can go round the city without passing through the city centre.

This will end the traffic jam that is brought by motorists who use the city centre just to get across the other side of Nairobi,” Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said.