Heavy traffic on Thika Road forces KeNHA to suspend partial road closure

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) on Tuesday morning (December 24) directed a contractor hired to erect a pedestrian footbridge at Witethie area to stop operations and allow vehicles to pass after heavy traffic was experienced on the route.

The gridlock affected travellers headed to Thika, Nyeri, Murang’a, among other destinations.

A motorist, who was using the route, posted a video on Twitter early Tuesday, lamenting that he was stuck at one spot from 5am to 9am.

Other motorists also took to the micro-blogging site to express their frustrations.

And, around 10am Tuesday, KeNHA announced on its official Twitter page that it had suspended hoisting of the footbridge during the day.

“At Witethie, the contractor notified KeNHA that they experienced a hiccup when hoisting the superstructure for the pedestrian footbridge last night. This greatly affected traffic flow for Thika-bound traffic, causing a massive traffic jam. The section has since been opened to allow normal traffic flow,” said KeNHA.

“The Authority has instructed the contractor that they divert traffic strictly between 11pm and 4am, when there will be minimal interruptions,” added the agency in a press statement whose undersigned is the Authority’s assistant director of corporate communication, Charles Njogu.