Six more roads in city centre to be turned into one-way streets
City Hall plans to transform six more roads in the city centre into one-way streets to ease traffic jams and congestion, a top official revealed yesterday.
Roads, Public Works and Transport executive Hitan Majevdia said the county has begun holding discussions on the programme with the national government, the World Bank and UN-Habitat.
He said money for the programme is already factored into the 2019/20 fiscal year budget and would be implemented after the successful completion of the ongoing repairs and transformation of Luthuli Avenue, which is reopens this Friday.
“We are engaged in discussions though no decision has been arrived at on the specific streets yet,” Mr Majevdia said.
He explained that most of the congestion in Nairobi is caused matatus that park haphazardly, blocking streets.
He added that matatus have turned streets into parking lots.
EASE CONGESTION
“When all the streets are converted into one-way drives, it will ease congestion and gridlocks. Matatus will not block business premises,” he said.
Mr Majevdia added that the county government has been talking with matatu firms on finding new areas for their operations.
“We have had successful meetings with Eastleigh and Joy Kenya saccos, which operate on Luthuli Avenue,” he said.
“We will need to move matatus to the backstreets where there are no shops. We will meet sacco officials on Tuesday next week.”
He added that the transformation of the 300-metre Luthuli Avenue would cost Sh33 million.
“We expect it to have a pedestrian walkway, proper street lighting, road markings, special lights, trees and footpaths on both sides,” he said.
“We are working day and night to ensure the project is completed quickly. We also do not want to interfere with the economic activities in the area.”
Mr Majevdia said manholes are being repaired and that Kenya Power is also addressing the problem of hanging cables.
“We will paint parts of the street,” he said.