Mombasa road to get Footbridges as accidents kill one

Metroscope Engineering has been contracted to conduct surveys across the Nairobi - Mlolongo stretch of the Mombasa Highway. The survey started on Wednesday 15th and till Friday 15th and was carried at various spots including Bellevue/South B, Parkside Towers/Ole Sereni , General Motors/Enterprise Road, Imara Daima amongst others. It is not known who has commissioned the survey though at the time. This though is likely to be the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) which has taken a more active role in improvement, maintenance and construction of urban roads in the country. In Nairobi, the City Council of Nairobi (CCN) is also supposed to be in charge of roads though has been playing a lesser role over time. Other agencies in charge of roads in the country include the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KERA) while the Kenya Roads Board (KRB) plays a wider role in highways. KURA, KERA KRB all fall under the national government while CCN is under local authority.

Completion of the survey is expected to lead to selection of busy passenger-vehicle interaction spots for construction of foot bridges. Metrsoscope is expected to give costs of the project after the survey. Road users have for long complained about the absence of foot bridges across the international highway. The only foot bridge on the road is at Nyayo Stadium round about.

The lack of foot bridges has led to at least one death weekly as passengers are knocked down by speeding motorists. Notorious spots are General Motors/Enterprise junction, Bellevue/South B, Parkside Towers and Capital Centre in that order. Passengers crossing at Tegla Lorupe junction have been lucky with lower rates due to junctions at General Motors , Cabanas and the General Motors fly over that slow vehicles down. Speeding Matatus have been the biggest culprits followed by trucks.

Pedestrians have also advised for the choice of metal-mesh sided foot bridges as a security precaution. Concrete sided foot bridges such as the one at Nyayo are rarely used especially when it gets dark as users are afraid of muggers hiding at the top of the bridge. Cases of muggings at poorly lit and hidden foot bridges are common around Nairobi.

Driver of this car and his passenger escaped with slight
injuries when it was hit from behind as it tried to
avoid another accident.

At the same time, as the survey carried on, one person lost their life and two others were slightly injured in two accidents that occurred within Mombasa road in a 24 hour period. A passenger crossing the road at Bellevue/South B was fatally knocked down last week on Wednesday evening.

On Thursday morning, a driver and his passenger escaped with slight injuries when the vehicle they were travelling in rolled into a ditch. The early morning accident occurred at the Tegla Lorupe road - Mombasa road intersection near Imara and Cabanas. Witnesses say that a saloon car had abruptly slowed down to avoid hitting a Nissan matatu that had driven into Mombasa Road from Tegla Lorupe road. Another Nissan Matatu behind the saloon car was unable to slow down and hit the saloon car from the back resulting in the vehicle overturning and landing into a ditch.

The Tegla Lorupe-Mombasa road junction is risky to drivers due to poor design of the junction with no slip roads on either side of the road. The design has resulted in regular traffic at the spot and accidents in the past. Tegla Lorupe road was recently constructed by the City Council of Nairobi.

The Matatu that hit the overturned vehicle. The speeding
matatu did not slow down in time as the car avoided
another matatu .

Construction of fly overs and upgrading of North Airport road is continuing at a fast pace. The road will have round-abouts and the junction into Mombasa Highway eradicated and replaced with fly overs. The contact has been awarded to China Road and Bridge Company (CRBC) and is part of the Eastern Bypass project undertaken by KURA.

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