Thirteen-day closure of Southern bypass in Nairobi is proving to be a little bit challenging for motorists accessing the city centre.
Kenya National Highways Authority (Kenha) closed the bypass on December 23, 2024 until January 5th from Ole Ole Sereni Interchange to Ngong Road Interchange to allow for the rehabilitation of the expansion joints of all the bridges along the affected section.
The Authority added that it will also pave the way for the reconstruction of concrete pavement of the virtual weighbridge.
The stretch that goes all the way to Kikuyu was specifically meant for long distance trucks from Mombasa road to avoid accessing the city centre.
However, the diversion of the traffic and mostly the trucks is proving to be a challenge on Lang’ata Road and Ngong Road, which will serve as alternative routes during the period.
On Christmas day for instance, some roundabouts towards the city centre witnessed traffic snarl-up owing to the increasing number of the trucks with some opting to proceed to Uhuru highway.
“To me, closing the bypass for more than three days is not good idea yet there are ongoing works on some areas including Haile Selassie round about that is why you will find traffic jams caused by long vehicles in almost all the roundabouts,” Musa Bai one of the truck drivers said.
“Some renovations ought to be carried out during the night so as to avoid any inconveniences on the road,” he added
Other motorists appealed to Kenha to design proper bus stops on the stretch between General Motors all the way to the city centre to avoid the current confusion brought by matatus operating on the route.
At the same time, there is a going expansion of a section of Mombasa road between between Airtel Kenya and General Motors where motorists and pedestrians have raised concerns over the slow pace of completion of a section of the highway by the contractor.
The contractor is working on a section from the City Centre all the way to City Cabanas, which started in 2023.
