We sat in traffic for nearly 5 hours both coming and going and that is simply ridiculous. Traffic flow simply does not happen. At one point 3 traffic policemen were standing together chit chatting as the traffic bottle necked at the roundabout.

Once known as East Africa’s green “City in the Sun”, Nairobi is so choked with traffic that Kenya’s architects suggest moving to a new capital and angry business leaders say the booming economy is under threat. [source:Reuters]

Nairobi that was designed almost 50 years ago was done so for about 500,000 people, today contained within the same area the population is at roughly 4.5 million and the expansion of roads is simply not good enough. A recent survey conducted said traffic jams cost motorists 50 million shillings ($670,000) a day through increased fuel consumption, mechanical damage and pollution.

Alot needs to be done to reduce traffic or atleast improve its flow, expansion of road lanes is not good enough because at some point these lanes will be filled up with more cars. The following are what I feel needs to be done as a start:

• Traffic lights should be repaired and configured properly.
• Traffic police be trained to be professional and efficient. The Traffic police should only control traffic when the traffic lights are not working. The should strictly not interfere with the traffic lights.
• Roundabouts are so last century and should be removed. These roundabouts make it really difficult for the traffic to flow in a proper manner.
• A proper public transport system should be put in place (e.g. smart bus) one that will be run effectively, professionally and safely permanently, not just for a few months. Once this has been put in place, matatu licensing should be put in place so that it is hard for just anyone to bring on matatu’s on the road as public transport. According to me, if this alone is done, traffic will start flowing smoothly. Matatu’s, weaving wildly from lane to lane, account for 80 percent of public transport and are a major cause of congestion.
• Like many other countries, trucks and other heavy load vehicles should be restricted to be on the roads from 6:00AM to 8:00PM. Heavy load vehicles are slow moving vehicles and completely reduce the flow of traffic during peak hours.
• An increase in parking fees in congested areas will also reduce traffic as less people would drive their vehicles. More people would share one vehicle and split the parking fees within themselves. This should also be brought about once a more reliable and effective public transport system is implemented.
• Review of city growth, the government is not at all looking into the haphazard growth of the city and how people within residential areas sell their properties for commercial development. The government needs to set strict residential and commercial zones and maintain them from time to time.

These are just a few suggestions but there are plenty more, and picking anyone of the above would make a difference.

Please share your comments and suggestion with us.

[Image courtesy Mark Eichmann]