Nairobi News

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Expansion of Ngong Road to a dual carriageway begins


Ngong Road is notorious for being one of the most congested roads in Nairobi County, but this will soon change once a dualling project launched yesterday is completed.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has launched the construction of the first of a two-phase project to expand the narrow, six kilometre stretch between the Kenya National Library Services office and the Junction Mall.

The phase launched by the President spans a distance of 2.57km between the library and the Prestige Plaza.

The project, which will cost Sh1.3 billion, is being implemented by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority and is funded by the government of Japan through a grant.

HOURS IN TRAFFIC

Motorists from estates along the road, Karen and even as far as Ngong Town, have reported spending hours on a stretch of road that would normally require minutes to pass.

President Kenyatta said it was sad that business investments in the city had outpaced the growth of infrastructure, leading to a clogging of major transport channels within the city.

“We need to bring an end the suffering of many Kenyans who are either stuck in traffic or locked out due to poor roads. This will bring us much closer to our target of 10 per cent annual GDP growth,” he said.

The new road will include four vehicle lanes and service lanes on both sides, comprising pedestrian walks and cycling lanes.

There are also plans to later on include a special bus lane to be used exclusively by public service buses to ferry people to and from town without interacting with the normal traffic.

The new design is expected to minimise conflict between vehicles and pedestrians as it includes special pedestrian crossing zones and automated traffic lights at major intersections.

But things are going to get worse before they get better as the project gets underway due to disruptions that will be caused by construction works.

The World Bank estimates that up to Sh12 billion is lost every month in Nairobi due to traffic gridlocks.