Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko few days ago made residents of the city to walk to long distances to get to Nairobi CBD. Mike Sonko was informed that the move was going to reap fruits but it was banned even before 24 hours of its implementation.
Sonko received a lot of opposition including from his own Senator Johnson Sakaja who even took the war to the courts.
But most people criticized the move for it was properly planned before execution. People lives were endangered as the bridges were congested with a lot of people.
The government has confirmed plans to adopt modern traffic management system to facilitate the affordable housing agenda.
The plan announced by PS state department for housing and urban development Charles Hinga Mwaura will execute the proposal to extend a corridor through Nairobi’s central business district and put up other routes through the downtown area.
Hinga said the proposal which has since faced budget constraints, will be incorporated in the implementation of 500,000 affordable homes program.
“The project designs feature policies on access and movement including cycling paths and pedestrian friendly walkways. This will facilitate ease of movement and achieve the affordable housing program objectives,” he said.
He was speaking during the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) workshop.
Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (NAMATA) announced early this year to introduce a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system from a benchmark made in Dar Er Salaam, Tanzania.
The plan has since been left on the dock due to the lack of a budgetary allocation to develop the required infrastructure.
The buses with a capacity of close to 160 passengers would see a complete overhaul of the matatu sector to ease congestion in the city.
Though previous proposals made for BRT systems required the high-capacity buses to go round the edges of CBD, the new commuter network will require an additional 1.5km of corridor to serve a significant population of primarily low income residents travelling to the city from the west, the department said.
The design and routing will also include specified station locations, intersection design, and a spur corridor linking outlying low-income neighborhoods to the BRT network.
The transport agency has already mapped out five routes that will have the lanes reserved for buses.
In the city centre, the bus rapid lanes will be constructed along roads like Haile Selassie, Moi Avenue, Kenyatta Avenue and University Way, according to the agency’s designs.
Outside city centre, the Nairobi transport agency has mapped out five routes including Thika superhighway, Jogoo Road, Mombasa Road and Outer Ring Road that will have the lanes reserved for buses.
The recommendations on the corridor were first made in 2014 by ITDP to Kenya National Highway Authority (KeNHA) but were never rolled out.
Current conditions prevent adequate transportation in the CBD, forcing those working in the area to walk unnecessary distances or go through time consuming transfers