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Traffic team’s ideas to end chaos in city

By ALLAN OLINGO February 14th, 2014 2 min read

Matatu chaos will be a thing of the past if proposals given to County Hall will be adopted.

The Nairobi County Roads Task force has recommended that public service vehicles be barred from accessing the city centre, but instead drop off passengers at satellite termini to be constructed.

The task force also proposes that new stations be built at Globe Cinema to serve commuters from Thika and Juja roads; Nyayo Stadium for vehicles plying Mombasa road, Lang’ata Road and Rongai; and another station at Uhuru Park and Ngong Road to cater for matatus plying Dagoretti, Kibera and Kawangware routes.

Nairobi County Governor Evans Kidero said he would adopt the proposals the team would come up with as he commissioned the task force last year.

Their suggestions are aimed at decongesting the city of its extravagant vehicle concentration, especially in the central business district.

“I understand that the current state of affairs for the residents is unacceptable as they are forced to spend hours in traffic gridlocks. We hope that these proposals will be adopted to ease this problem,” Kidero said.

Vehicles using Jogoo Road will be expected to drop commuters at Muthurwa while the Westlands, Fig Tree and Kariokor termini will be expanded for matatus from that side.

Task force chairman Ronald Musengi said: “We’d like to see the bus termini at various streets in the city centre dismantled. This includes Moi Avenue, Tom Mboya, Ronald Ngala, River Road, Racecourse, Accra Road, Luthuli Avenue and Kenyatta Avenue.”

Currently buses from Githurai, Ruiru, Huruma and Umoja use a terminus on Ronald Ngala Street; while those plying Jogoo road, Doonholm, Savannah, Outering Road, Embakasi and Pipeline stop at an Accra Road  terminus.

Those plying Kangemi, Westlands, Kinoo, Uthiru, Eastleigh, Mlango Kubwa and their environs use Tom Mboya while those from Kayole use Racecourse.

Already the installation of traffic lights at various intersections and training of the county askaris to perform tasks previously managed by traffic officers are some proposals already adopted.Those yet to be implemented include the use of County Hall-owned tow trucks to move stalled vehicles.

Residents are already enjoying the services of Syokimau, Makadara and Imara Daima Railway stations constructed to ease traffic flow into the city centre.

The Government also plans to construct a Sh10 billion railway line from the city centre to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

The taskforce has also proposed creation of emergency lanes for vehicles such as ambulances and fire engines.

Construction of underpasses at various spots along the highways such as Juja Road at Kiboro Primary School, Waiyaki Way at Kangemi and Mombasa Road at Cabanas, Capital Centre and GM is also in the in plans.