The problem facing Class B roads in Nairobi.

It doesn't make logical sense for roads serving a high volume of cars to only have one lane. To make it worse, some even have popular institutions with their gates on the road causing traffic jams.

In Kenya, we have two types of roads:

(i) National Trunk Roads.

(ii) County Trunk Roads.

KeNHA (Kenya National Highways Authority), the statutory body responsible for the development, rehabilitation, management and maintenance of all National Trunk Roads, classifies them into two:

The 1^st categorization is Class A roads, which are all the roads that form strategic routes and corridors, crossing international boundaries at identified immigration entry and exit points or terminating at international ports. Examples include: the Nairobi-Mombasa highway (A109), the Nairobi-Malaba highway (A104) or the Lokichogio-Isebania highway (A1).

The 2^nd categorization is Class B roads, which are all roads that form important national routes, linking national trading/economic hubs or county headquarters to each other or to the Class A roads. Examples include: Limuru Road (B33) and Kangundo Road (B63).

KeRRA (Kenya Rural Roads Authority), the statutory body responsible for the development, rehabilitation, management and maintenance of all County Roads, classifies them into three:

The 1^st classification is Class C roads, which are all the roads that link provincially important centers to each other. Examples include: Lang’ata Road and Outering Road.

The 2^nd classification is Class D roads, which are all roads that link locally important centers to each other. Examples include Kasarani-Mwiki road.

The 3^rd classification is Class E roads, which is any road that links one to a small market or an estate.

Following those definitions, then, we can deduce that the classification of a road also goes hand-in-hand with the density of the users. A Class A road is always full of motorists at all times, while a Class E road may just have a single car for an hour. Therefore, logic dictates that Class A roads should be the widest in order to accommodate all these cars, with the width decreasing in the order of the classes.

However, that doesn’t seem to be the case with the roads in Nairobi. Take Limuru Road for example. If we are to map it out till its end, then we see that Limuru Road serves the residents of Ngara, Parklands, Muthaiga, Gigiri, Rosslyn, Ruaka, Ndenderu, Kianjogu, Redhill, and finally Limuru town itself, before it joins the A104 Nairobi-Nakuru highway.

Yet, Limuru Road has always been a one-lane road for all these years, despite the huge number of people it serves. This is one of the huge bottlenecks that I’ve always been talking about. Why would you have all the vehicles plying this route to squeeze themselves into one lane just as they enter or exit the city?

To make the situation worse, we also have a high-density institution on the road, which is the Aga Khan University Hospital. Despite having its entrance on the Fifth Parklands Avenue, the queue of cars entering the premises snakes back into the road, causing some traffic on the Avenue as well as on Limuru Road. Having such a huge premise as well as a congested small road is definitely recipe for traffic.

Fortunately, KURA seemed to have notice this, and so they are working on the expansion of the road. If you’ve been to Limuru Road recently, then you’ll notice that the stretch from City Park to the Muthaiga Road junction is being expanded. At least this would alleviate some traffic from that stretch.

The other road facing a similar problem is Kangundo Road. Serving residents of Komarock, Kayole, Njiru, Ruai, Kamulu, Joska, and other satellite estates all the way to and beyond Machakos county, the road was slated to be a dual carriageway back in 2019, according to plans by both KeNHA and KURA. The plan, however, did not go through, and so Kangundo has Road remained a one-lane road too.

The road has always had constant traffic jams, but this was made worse by the recent opening of Quiver Lounge right after the Kangundo Market. This premise has driven more traffic into the area, as well as causing congestion at its entry point. Therefore, the jam has seemingly become worse.

It is worth noting that the two roads listed up are Class B roads, serving different counties, yet they are both one-way lane roads. The authorities need to regulate such a road and ensure that it serves the required population without straining.