Leaders urge KeNHA to repair Nairobi-Nakuru highway

Motorists stuck in traffic along the Nairobi-Nakuru highway. [File, Standard]

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has been urged to urgently repair damaged sections of the Nairobi-Nakuru highway to curb accidents.

Local leaders and road safety associations said that the high shoulders mainly between Kinungi and Naivasha led to fatal accidents in 2024.

The situation has been worsened by the failure of the authority to mark sections of the busy highway and the vandalism of road signs.

Former Naivasha MP John Mututho, said sections of the highway were becoming death traps due to lack of maintenance.

Mututho cited the high shoulders saying they cause drivers to lose control of vehicles and roll whenever they veer off the road.

“We are asking KeNHA to move with speed and repair these sections whose shoulders are very high as this is one source of accidents,” he said.

He noted that in 2024 more than 20 accidents were recorded between Kinungi and Naivasha after motorists lost control of vehicles due to the high shoulders.

Speaking in Naivasha, Mututho hit out at the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) for unfairly targeting matatus in the crackdown yet there were other serious offenders.

He said that 70 per cent of accidents on the highway involved trailers and lorries and it was time that the government reigned on their travel time.

“In every crackdown, all energies are on matatus yet trailers are the major cause of fatal accidents on major roads in the country,” he said.

James Kabono from the Naivasha Road Safety Association blamed accidents on  high road shoulders on the highway.

Kabono said there was no space on the highway for vehicles to veer off the road leading to head-on collisions that result in deaths.

“Whenever drivers veer off the road to avoid head on collisions, these result in the cars rolling and we have in the last couple of months seen lives lost,” he said.

He urged Kenha to erect speed bumps at trading centers along the highway to stem the high number of deaths involving pedestrians.

“We are calling on KeNHA to put up speed bumps mainly at Mithuri and Kabati centers in Naivasha where tens of pedestrians have been killed while crossing the highway,” he said.