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Traffic police warn PSVs flouting rules on Outering Road

Resident Engineer Bhattarai said that the project has a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) corridor that will be developed at a later stage and will exclusively be used by Pubic Service Vehicles/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 1 – Nairobi traffic commandant Peter Ndung’u has warned Public Service Vehicles using the newly built Outering Road of legal action, should they continue flouting traffic rules as the project nears completion.

Ndung’u stressed that the road was expanded by the government to ease traffic congestion on the Eastern side of the capital, yet matatus continue to break rules leading to traffic jams at most of the junctions.

“We have bus lays which they (matatus) intentionally avoid so that they can pick passengers at the junctions, thereby obstructing other motorists. This will be a thing of the past as I will be deploying traffic officers at each and every junction until the project is completed,” Ndung’u said, after attending a meeting at the East African School of Aviation with the Resident Engineer of the Outering Road project, Narayan Bhattarai.

The traffic boss was accompanied by Divisional Traffic Commanders from Kasarani, Buruburu, Starehe and Embakasi, whom he gave strict instructions to arraign the offenders in court once they are nabbed.

“This project is a new experience for most motorists, hence we expect them to follow road signs and traffic officers directives while on the road so that traffic can flow, it’s them (road users) who will be inconvenienced if they do not follow the signs properly,” he added.

Resident Engineer Bhattarai said that the project has a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) corridor that will be developed at a later stage and will exclusively be used by Pubic Service Vehicles.

“We are also constructing a new roundabout outside the General Service Unit headquarters in Ruaraka so as to remove the T-Junctions which the traffic police have complained as some of the factors contributing to traffic at the junction of Outering Road and the Thika Superhighway.

The meeting was called by the Kenya Urban Roads Authority general manager in charge of Design and Construction Eng. John Mwatu, who wanted the traffic police to give their input into the Sh8 billion project has been financed by the African Development Bank that will bring to an end the traffic nightmare in Nairobi’s most populated suburbs.

“The traffic police department is one of our biggest partners in the roads sector, and as officers on the ground every day, we called them to get their feedback on the flow of traffic and also their input which will be very important as the project comes to an end in the next few months,” Eng. Mwatu said after chairing the meeting.

The 13km road stretches from the Ruaraka/Thika Road Junction to Taj Mall in Embakasi. The project involves construction of two lanes in each direction, service roads, 10 footbridges, non-motorised transport facilities and six interchanges.

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The design also makes provision for a nine-metre raised central median that will be later developed to a bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor. Other features include walkways and cycle tracks over the entire length of the road, planting of 4,500 trees, and a children’s traffic safety park.

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