State invites bids to build Syokimau, Airtel, Katani expressway footbridges
Nairobi Expressway along Waiyaki way, Westlands in this photo taken on April 16, 2022. State intends to build three pedestrian overpasses on sections of the Expressway.
The State is finally set to build three pedestrian overpasses on sections of the newly constructed Nairobi Expressway, yielding to pressure from thousands of highly inconvenienced city residents.
The Kenya National Highways Authority(KeNHA) said the pedestrian overpasses would be built at the Katani station, Syokimau standard gauge railway station, and the Airtel complex sections of the 27-kilometre road.
The footbridges form part of changes marked to improve user convenience and pedestrian safety on the expressway.
In a key modification, the government plans to re-design the expressway to allow easy access to the Central Business District (CBD).
The Infrastructure ministry said in May that the expressway will be designed in a way that people from Westlands will now land at Nyayo House while those from the Airport will now land at Haile Selassie Avenue or Green park bus terminus.
The expressway and the Southern, Western, and Northern by-passes are part of infrastructure projects aimed at decongesting the Nairobi CBD and its satellite areas.
The State also targets the implementation of the dream Nairobi bus rapid transport (BRT) project from the current financial year.
The National Treasury earlier this year allocated some Sh1.17billion to kick off the BRT project. The government of Kenya will provide the bulk Sh1.05 billion while the rest of the budget will be footed through foreign financing, the National Treasury said in an expenditure plan for the current fiscal year.
This will make a substantial improvement compared to the current financial year where some Sh700million was approved for allocation.
The BRT seeks to help decongest traffic within the Nairobi central business district and its environs.
For the BRT, Nairobi Metropolitan Area Authority has gazetted 12 mobility corridors, seven of them for core mass rapid transportation linking Limuru, Ngong Town, Kenol, Murang’a, Kiambu, Ruai, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and Konza techno city.
The remaining five comprise rapid transport corridors along Line 2, which have been contracted, and works on them will begin soon.
Line 1 is to run from James Gichuru Road/Waiyaki Way to JKIA — a distance of 20 kilometres, while Line 2, which is 31 kilometres long, will run from Lang’ata Road to Ngong Road as well as Juja Road and Komarock Road to Ruiru. It will have major stops at Dandora, Kariobangi, and near Gikomba Market.
Line 3 will run from Githurai through Thika Road to Moi Avenue in the CBD and terminate at Kenyatta National Hospital. Line 4 will cover 14km from T-Mall to Jogoo Road while Line 5 will cover Outer Ring Road.
Priority corridors are the JKIA to Likoni, James Gichuru-Rironi, and Bomas to Ruiru roads.
The 27 - Kilometer Kasarani-Kenyatta National Hospital line that’s expected to be operational by June is part of the second corridor that runs from Kenol to Rongai.
