Hundreds of motorists were forced to spend the night on the road following a traffic snarl-up along the Nairobi-Mombasa and the Nakuru-Eldoret highways.
The traffic jam along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway began at Sultan Hamud area in Makueni County on Friday evening, paralysing movement along the highway, which links two of Kenya's largest cities.
The congestion, which spanned several kilometres, is believed to have been caused by overlapping amid bad weather, which consequently restricted the movement of vehicles in both directions of the road.
Reports indicate that the traffic jam began at around 8 pm on Friday, and despite attempts by the traffic officers to ease the congestion, the efforts proved futile.
Meanwhile, the gridlock along the Nakuru-Eldoret highway began at the Salgaa area, forcing motorists and passengers to brave the cold night as vehicles blocked both lanes of the single-carriageway.
According to Nakuru County police boss Emmanuel Opuru, the gridlock was caused by an accident at Salgaa and vehicles that entered the wrong lane, causing the night-long incident.
The congestion, which began on Friday evening, lasted the whole night, and by 10 am on Saturday, several motorists were still stuck along the busy route.
The congestion was further exacerbated by the heavy downpour experienced across several parts of the country, including Nakuru County.
A spot check by Kenyans.co.ke showed that by 11 am, several vehicles, both private and Public Service Vehicles (PSVs), were still stuck on both highways with minimal movements along the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
Footage of traffic congestion along both the Nairobi-Mombasa and Nakuru-Eldoret highways showed PSVs and trailers lined up along the roads and moving at a slower pace as some motorists attempted to navigate the congestion.
This comes on the back of the government's plan to construct a six-lane expressway linking Nairobi and Mombasa cities and another one connecting Nairobi, Nakuru and Kisumu cities.
While speaking at the launch of the Mau Forest Complex Integrated Conservation on Monday, October 27, President William Ruto noted that the Rironi-Mau Summit road project would extend from Mau Summit westwards to Kericho and Kisumu, while another branch will stretch from Mau Summit to Eldoret and onward to the Malaba border with Uganda.
"The expansion will not stop in Mau Summit. I want it to go to Kericho and then Kisumu, and another to extend to Eldoret and then the Malaba border,” President Ruto announced.
