Road users have called for expansion of the narrow and dangerous Mai Mahiu-Limuru road, saying traffic snarl-ups are causing them losses running into millions of shillings.
The most affected are heavy commercial vehicles heading to neighbouring countries, tour drivers and matatus ferrying travellers to western parts of the country.
They now want the government to expand the road to a dual-carriageway to address the jams that can last for more than eight hours.
Travellers and truckers have occasionally had to spend the night on the road.
Truck driver Sam Makhoha said weekly jams were costing them a fortune, with tens of man hours lost and perishable goods going to waste.
The road was constructed in 1942 by Italian prisoners of war and could no longer handle the high traffic and heavy loads.
“Motorists are getting scared of using this road as it's impossible to manoeuvre in case of an accident and this always leads to massive traffic jams,” he said.
Kamau Njuguna, a director of the East Africa Chamber of Commerce, said the road was critical as it is one of the major gateways to Rift Valley.
The road leads to Maasai Mara National Reserve and Western Kenya. It is critical to the economy of the country and needs to be expanded.
“The jam has been worsened by overlapping drivers but the only way to fully address this problem lies in expanding it,” Njuguna said.
Earlier, Nakuru Governor Lee Kinyanjui and his Narok counterpart Samuel Tunai urged the government to give the road priority and expand it as the current condition was hurting business.
He noted that tens of man-hours were lost by drivers every week due to the current condition which made it impossible to manoeuvre through.
“We are asking the government to move with haste and expand the Mai Mahiu-Limuru road which is very narrow, so that it can serve its purpose,” he said.
Tunai said hundreds of tourists heading to the Maasai Mara were getting stranded on the road on a weekly basis.
The Narok governor said other people miss their flights due to snarl-ups, saying the only solution was expanding the road or seeking an alternative route.
“There is a road that passes through Ngong to Suswa town and this can be rehabilitated for use by those heading to the Mara,” he said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
