Traffic congestion in Nairobi City costs the economy an estimated Sh37 billion annually, an interim report shows. The report prepared by the county’s Transport and Urban Decongestion committee attributed this to poor planning of the city that did not factor in steady increase in population and vehicles.
“Nairobi’s population has increased from 350,000 in 1963 to 3.3 million today with an estimated 300,000 vehicles without a corresponding increase of the road network,” the report reads in part, adding that Outer Ring has the highest traffic volumes of over 87,000 vehicles daily.

This, the survey shows, has contributed to a majority of commuters getting caught in traffic jam daily. “Without measures to improve the traffic situation, these losses are likely to increase drastically as the population increases to nearly double the current numbers by 2025,” says the report. According to the Kenya Central Bureau of Statistics, with a growth rate of 4.1 per cent, the population of Nairobi is estimated to reach 5 million by 2025.
The committee chaired by Prof Marion Mutugi shows that Nairobi has experienced one of the highest growth rates in Africa and developed to be the largest city in East Africa despite being the youngest in the region. The report adds that most of the respondents were also concerned with discipline of road users and acknowledged the need for corruption free systems and stiff penalties for traffic violators. The report says most respondents used public transportation like matatus (51.81 per cent), personal cars (16.41 per cent) and minibuses (13.82 per cent). The major routes of entry into town were identified as Jogoo, Thika and Mombasa roads all at 23.02 per cent, 20.45 per cent and 10.90 per cent respectively. “On inquiring the time taken to access the CBD, the highest proportion of the respondents (37 per cent) said it took them between half an hour and hour during weekdays,” says the report.
To decongest the city, the report recommends completion of bypass projects to divert transit traffic from the city centre, replace some of the roundabouts with traffic lights, expand feeder roads joining superhighways/avenues, reduce interconnecting roads to allow arterial movement of vehicles, abolish angle parking within the city centre and re-introduce transit routes for public vehicles so that they do not stop to pick passengers in town.
Source: Standard Media