Nairobi motorists are staring down the barrel of a traffic nightmare as heavy machinery descends on the city’s most critical arteries.

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has issued a red alert for the next two weeks, announcing major construction works that will effectively throttle traffic flow on both the Thika Superhighway and Waiyaki Way, threatening to bring the capital’s economy to a crawling halt.

The Choke Points

The epicenter of the disruption will be the Gitaru Interchange and key sections leading into the Central Business District. These are not minor repairs; they are structural overhauls intended to integrate new feeder roads into the expressway system. For the hundreds of thousands of commuters who rely on these corridors daily, the timing could not be worse, with schools in session and the rainy season looming.

Traffic engineers predict that travel times could triple during peak hours. "We are looking at a situation where a 30-minute commute becomes a two-hour ordeal," warned a city urban planner. "The ripple effect will paralyze Mombasa Road and the Southern Bypass as motorists frantically seek escape routes that simply do not exist."

• Economic Impact: Billions of shillings in man-hours are expected to be lost. Logistics companies are already advising clients to expect delays in deliveries across the metropolitan area.
• The Waiyaki Woes: The ongoing expansion of the A8 highway has already tested patience; this new phase involves lane closures that will funnel four lanes of traffic into two, creating a bottleneck of epic proportions.

Survival of the Fittest

The police have promised to deploy extra officers to manage the flow, but history suggests that presence alone cannot mitigate the physics of too many cars on too little road. Commuters are being urged to explore alternative modes of transport, carpool, or adjust their travel times—luxuries that few in Nairobi’s rigid working culture can afford.

As the excavators roar to life this weekend, Nairobi enters a period of siege. The promise is better infrastructure tomorrow, but the price is absolute chaos today. For the average motorist, the only strategy is endurance.

"Prepare for the worst," cautioned a KeNHA official. "Pain is inevitable, but it is the price of progress."