Government outlines steps to decongest and ease traffic flow in Nairobi City

In a statement released  by Eng. Michael S.M Kamau, CBS, Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and Dr. Evans Kidero, Governor, Nairobi County on de-congestion and traffic flow in Nairobi City today, this is what they had to say;

Members of the Media

We have convened this briefing to inform Kenyans and Nairobi City residents of the joint plans the National and County Government of Nairobi have to address traffic jams in the City. The congestion of the city is a matter great concern to all as a result of the long commute times, man hours lost and the obvious high cost of transport and doing business.

The National Government and County of Nairobi will be working closely to implementation of short, medium and long-term measures to tackle the problem.

You may recall that on 21^st October, 2014, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure signed an MOU with the counties of Nairobi Metropolitan Area to pave way for co-operation with regard to matters of transport and transit systems in the metropolitan area. This initiative to deal with traffic congestion in the city of Nairobi is being implemented within this framework.

We are alive to the fact that congestion situation in Nairobi requires immediate action but we are also aware that a one-off quick fix will not deliver the results Kenyans deserve and therefore the approach will be focused, consistent and systematic devoid of the fear to experiment, make mistakes and correct them.

Congestion in Nairobi City is due to a transport system, that has experienced exponential growth in vehicle population without commensurate expansion of road infrastructure. The situation has been worsened by inadequate public transport system with the capacity to ferrying the growing number of commuters within the metropolitan area efficiently.

In order to provide leadership in addressing this challenge, we have constituted and gazetted an inter-disciplinary Task Force chaired by Mr. Mohamed Abdullahi, the County Executive Committee Member for Roads and Transport, Nairobi City County to continuously identify causes of traffic bottlenecks and come up with effective solutions to address them.

The team has already come up with a plan that will be rolled out as follows:

SHORT-TERM/QUICK WINS (0-12 weeks)

Review of PSV termini, bus stops and routes

It has been noted that PSV’s have converted some streets in the CBD as termini causing congestion. In order to address the problem and also streamline PSV operations in the city the following measures will be implemented:

1. Review all PSV termini and bus stops in the city and redesign routes to avoid termination of PSV’s in the CBD.
2. Enforce the Nairobi County by-Law that allows PSV to wait for passengers at termini for a maximum of 40 minutes and 5 minutes at bus stops.
3. Review all PSV routes to improve traffic flow and gazette the same.
4. Suspension of licensing of PSV’s on Nairobi City routes until a demand analysis of all routes is undertaken to justify issuance of additional licenses.
5. A multi-agency team comprising NTSA, Nairobi County and traffic police will enforce and ensure all PSVs comply with NTSA act, City by-laws and the Traffic Act.

Improvement of Junctions

Twenty one (21)road junctions have been identified for improvement along the arterial roads to improve traffic flow. These include, Ngong Road, Argwings Kodhek Road, Haile- Selassie Avenue, Jogoo Road, Mombasa Road, Langata Road and Kiambu Road. Contracts have already been awarded to improve junctions by constructing side lanes to divert some of the traffic from using roundabouts. Already, implementation is taking place along Ngong road at Muchai Drive.

Removal of Roundabouts

We are addressing traffic movement along the arterial road, A104 (Waiyaki Way-Uhuru Highway-Mombasa Road). There are 6 roundabouts where 70 percent of traffic builds up during rush hours thereby hindering smooth flow along the busy stretch