This archive report was first published on 7 December 2019.
Gridlocked Nakuru Highway Causes Long Night of Agony for Motorists and Passengers ¶
Motorists and passengers experienced a long night of agony on the Naivasha-Nakuru highway due to a massive traffic snarl-up that lasted over 15 hours, spilling over into Saturday.
The traffic crisis, which stretched up to 40km between Naivasha and Gilgil, was reportedly caused by coinciding graduation ceremonies in various universities as well as a passout parade at the National Youth Service (NYS) college in Gilgil on Friday.
Laikipia University, Masinde Muliro University, and Cooperative University all held their graduation events on Friday, contributing to the high number of vehicles involved and exacerbating the traffic situation.
Infuriated motorists and passengers castigated the institutions and the Nakuru county traffic boss for the traffic nightmare, blaming it on poor planning. Area and national leaders were also not spared from criticism.
Some argued that the hundreds of billions of shillings spent on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) could have been better spent on creating a lasting solution to the Nairobi-Nakuru highway traffic problem, which affects the economy.
“The money spent on SGR would have been wisely spent on Nairobi Nakuru highway. It would have been easier to explain how such a project has created numerous employments. Some businesses are losing money because of the traffic jam pale Gilgil,” opined Spartan.
However, a section of Kenyans blamed their fellow citizens for lacking basic road discipline and courtesy, arguing they only had themselves to blame for the traffic nightmare and lacked moral ground to blame the authorities.
“Kenyans behave like animals on the road, even Wildebeests have some order in the jungle. Huge traffic jam hits Nairobi-Nakuru highway,” said Kamau Njoroge.
As of Saturday noon, motorists and passengers were still complaining that the situation had not improved much.
