A serious oil tanker accident paralysed transport along Mombasa Road on Tuesday prompting the state to offer an alternative route.
According to a statement issued by Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), the accident occurred a few meters past Jomo Kenyatta International Airport completely clogging the road.
As a result, the authority advised motorists to avoid the highway and use the Syokimau service lane.
"KeNHA would like to issue a traffic advisory to all motorists plying along the Nairobi - Mombasa highway (A8) to exercise caution as they approach the section near the SGR terminus entrance after JKIA.
"Heavy traffic has been caused by an accident involving an oil tanker and due to this motorists are being diverted to the Syokimau service lane as police attend to the scene of the accident," read the statement in part.
At the time of publishing, it was, however, not clear what the cause of the accident was or if their were any casualties.
This comes just days after motorists plying Nairobi-Nakuru Highway spent as long as 15 hours in traffic on August 3.
So dire was the situation that Senate Majority leader, Kipchumba Murkomen, urged Transport Cabinet Secretary, James Macharia, to solve the traffic snarl-up which was reportedly caused by road repairs at Gilgil.
“There is a terrible traffic jam between Naivasha and Gilgil Town. The CS Transport must apply emergency measures to rescue people who have been stuck for over 15 hours. This is an international crisis,” Murkomen lamented.
The gridlock was worsened by closure of a truck lane near the Gilgil weighbridge.
Gilgil sub-county police boss, Emmanuel Opuru, stated, at the time, that the lane was closed to allow completion of ongoing road repairs according to Nation.
"The traffic was also unusually high because of closing of schools, leading to the gridlock," Opuru stated.
