Heavy Nairobi traffic jams visit Nakuru; but where is bypass?

In the 1970s, Nakuru, like most provincial and district headquarter towns, was orderly and well planned. Its cleanliness was the stuff of legend, with its Railway Station rated the cleanest in Kenya. Until the early 90s, it was sleepier than Nairobi, a friendlier place to live - both in terms of safety and cost to the pocket. One of its most inviting features was residents could walk from their houses to their places of work because the Rift Valley town was much smaller than Nairobi. One could also walk through its main streets without hindrance because human and vehicle traffic were low.

And then, development and population explosion happened. Today, the Nakuru CBD is nearly as frenzied as Nairobi, its comparatively smaller roads choked with human traffic, and all manner of vehicles from personal cars, matatus, tuk tuks and, of course, boda boda. The result is major traffic snarl-ups, particularly on the roundabouts linking town roads to the Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret highway. During evenings, the traffic can stretch for a kilometer past State House Nakuru, a nuisance for Western Kenya bound motorists. Mary Wambui, a snack and mask vendor at Mburu Gichua road within the Nakuru City Central Business District, says rush hour can be very chaotic as matatus that usually park outside the city return to town, fighting for space with motorbikes, taxis and personal vehicles.

"Matatus, motorbikes and taxis scramble for space within this area. It makes us vulnerable to accidents and muggings, not to mention all the dust," says Wambui.
More annoying are motorists who 'overlap' to avoid the traffic jams, putting vendors and pedestrians at grave risk. Wambui shows this reporter the display glass on her trolley, broken by a speeding motorcycle a week ago.

"We deal with arrogant drivers and boda boda operators who either destroy our work stations or injure us. It is a menace, especially in the evening," she says.
Metres from her business spot stands one of the main petrol stations in the city. The station manager, who wanted to remain anonymous, said traffic jams affect their business too, especially in the evenings.
"In the evening, traffic jams prevent our customers from fuelling at our station because matatus end up blocking our entry and exit points," said the manager.
The jams not only force transport operators to spend more on fuel but increase risk of accidents, Johnson Njaramba, a bodaboda operator, says.
"Accidents are very common in traffic jams and motorists, taxi drivers and matatu operators spend a lot of money repairing their vehicles and motorcycles," notes Njaramba.
Petty criminals take advantage of the confusion to strike. As he walks along the pavement, this reporter notices a nervously alert woman in front of him. She ushers him to pass when he tries to speak to her.
Veronica Njoki is her name. She has lost two mobile phones to thieves who melted into traffic jam after snatching them.
"I am now more careful. The road was jammed solid with pedestrians and vehicles and I was unlucky twice," she says. "My first phone was snatched through the window of a matatu while the second was snatched while I was walking home in the evening," she says.
While the County Government tried to reduce congestion by relocating matatus outside the city in 2020, the operators complain that the move negatively affected their businesses.
According to Governor Lee Kinyanjui, the relocation was intended to clean-up the town, reduce traffic jams and improve security. But the relocation caused chaos in the city for months, as matatus attempted to force their way back to the CBD. The issue has since been resolved.
The Nakuru County Government has also started installing street lights on busy streets for better control of traffic flow and paved sidewalks with cabro to make the city people friendly.
"We did not build Nakuru to be parking lots alone, we want to make sure that pedestrians are safe when they walk along the pavement," said Kinyanjui.
He said that the county was partnering with private developers to construct buildings and business premises that provide parking spaces (basements and rooftops), to reduce traffic jams. Away from the town, motorists lose millions of shillings every week due to the perennial traffic snarl-ups along the Mai Mahiu-Limuru road in Naivasha, Nakuru County.