Motorists and traders using the busy Nairobi-Mai Mahiu road want it expanded and have accused the government of neglecting it for years.
Despite ferrying goods worth millions of shillings on a daily basis, they have noted that the road is too narrow and dilapidated leading to daily traffic jams some lasting for tens of hours.
This came as tens of motorists were caught up in a four-hour jam on Monday evening following a slight accident involving two trucks which blocked a section of the busy road.
Last week another accident on the same road caused an eight-hour jam after a truck developed mechanical problem before been hit by a personal car from behind.
According to the motorists it had become impossible to overtake or maneuver through the section of the road whenever there was a slight jam or accident.
One of the truck drivers Ali Abdallah said that tens of man hours were been wasted on the section of the road on weekly basis due to the frequent jams.
He noted that trucks trying to maneuver were crashing into the nearby escarpment resulting in death and loss of property.
“We are calling for the expansion of this road as we are experiencing weekly jams whenever there is a slight accident,” he said.
The sentiments were echoed by the outgoing chairman of the chambers of commerce Nakuru county Kamau Njuguna who said that the country was losing millions due to the jam.
He noted that during the eight-hour jam last week tens of tourists heading to the airport from Maasai Mara were caught with many of them missing their flights.
Njuguna attributed the crisis to the increase in traffic flow against the narrow road noting that things would get worse in the coming days.
“The road was constructed during the colonial error and no one has bothered to expand it leading to the daily accidents and traffic snarl-ups,” he said.
A senior police officer who declined to be named termed the road as a disaster in waiting noting that it had been neglected for years.
The officer added that since its construction, the road had not been expanded making it impossible for vehicles to maneuver through the sides in case there was an accident.
“It has become the norm for traffic jams on this section of the road every week some lasting for hours and it’s a matter of days before we get a major lock-down,” said the officer.
