The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) on Monday, September 19, directed the resident engineer in charge of the Thika Superhighway to repair the cracks at select points.
In a statement, the authority noted that the contractor is in the process of repairing the cracks on the highway.
The response came after a video showing the debilitated state of the Ruiru overpass on the highway went viral.
"This is Ruiru overpass on Thika superhighway, It's been splitting apart slowly by slowly. Hope action will be taken before a catastrophic occurrence," read the caption of the video.
A section of Kenyans online opined that the cracks were occasioned by the widening of the Eastern bypass, urging KeNHA to assess the cause of the damage before fixing the road.
"Are you dealing with the problem or the solution? I suggest you first assess the cause which might be separating of the supporting collumns."
"This must be occasioned by the widening of the Eastern bypass this is dangerous."
"The bridge is really old. One would have expected a rebuild with the Superhighway but it didn't happen," read some of the comments online.
The Ksh32 billion Thika Superhighway, built in the late Mwai Kibaki administration, links Nairobi with Thika town. The project began in 2009 and was completed in 2012.
The brainchild of the project was expanding the four-lane carriageway to eight lanes, building an underpass, erecting flyovers as well as providing interchanges at roundabouts. All these efforts were aimed at reducing congestion.
The construction of the road was done in three phases: Thika Town to Kenyatta University, KU to Muthaiga Roundabout and Muthaiga Roundabout to Uhuru Highway.
