Kenya is set to construct a 28Km highway bridge connecting Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) with Kangemi market on the Nairobi-Nakuru highway in bid to tackle traffic congestion in the Kenyan capital city.

Transport Secretary James Macharia confirmed the reports and said that engineers have been deployed at the airport to assess the ground for the construction and help inform the final design of the massive overpass.

“Right now, we have engineers who are testing the soil at JKIA. It is no longer mere talks. We have done the bypasses around the city of Nairobi, we have done the Southern, Eastern and Northern bypasses and about a month ago we signed for Western bypass,” said Mr Macharia.

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Express Highway

The road dubbed “Express Highway” is expected to stem the problem of passengers missing flights at JKIA due to perennial traffic congestion on Mombasa Road.

“You land at JKIA and it takes you another two hours to get to the city. It is important to facilitate easy travel for the tourists coming to Nairobi especially for tourism conferences,” he added.

The new highway, will be completed in three stages starting with phase one (6.5km) which runs from JKIA to Likoni Road and the Southern bypass interchange. The segment will cost US $78m, which will be provided by the African Development Bank. Ngong and Outer Ring roads are some of those which are to be improved while Lang’ata Road would be expanded.