Kenya: Construction of much awaited Likoni floating bridge begins in earnest

Home » News » Kenya: Construction of much awaited Likoni floating bridge begins in earnest

The construction of the much-awaited Likoni floating bridge, connecting Mombasa Island to the Mainland south, in the coastal region of Kenya has officially broken grounds at the Liwatoni area of Mombasa Island.

The construction works of the Sh.1.7billion project are being carried out by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and overseen by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) which is under the state’s ministry of transport and infrastructure.

Features of the footbridge

Designed for pedestrians only, the Likoni floating bridge deck will comprise a 529 m long floating section, and 54 m long approaches on either side of the floating span. It will have a discrete-continuous structural system with 35 No. double body supported boats, and 2 No. end boats with twin springboards installed to form the floating bridge deck.

Also Read: Kenya in search of a consultancy firm for Nairobi Expressway Project

The floating suspension bridge will be connected by pins and hinges and guard rails will be installed on either side of the deck to ensure pedestrian safety.

The construction work for the causeway and a holding bay is set to be completed by the end of next month, according to Evans Momanyi who is the Director of Sakawa Agencies Limited, a sub-contractor company of the project.

Significance of the bridge

The Likoni floating footbridge, which is the first of its kind I the region, is expected to complement the existing ferry services to streamline ‘safe passageways’ for pedestrians and reduce overcrowding that characterizes the busy channel and consequently lower the risk of contracting Covid-19 on the vessels that ferry more than 300,000 commuters and approximately 6, 000 vehicles every single day.

According to John Elungata, the Coast Regional Commissioner (RC), the bridge is also expected to create the shortest route linking Mombasa Island to mainland south and onward to the neighboring Kwale County thus reducing the link distance and cutting on time spent on queuing to board the ferries.

2 thoughts on “Kenya: Construction of much awaited Likoni floating bridge begins in earnest”

  1. Hi,

    A floating suspension bridge is a misnomer.
    A floating bridge is also known as a pontoon bridge – the boats as you state are really ‘bridge pontoons’ Decades ago there was a ‘traffic pontoon bridge’ to the north coast.
    In a suspension bridge the deck is usually suspended high above terrain or water by means of large cables running over high towers and anchored to huge anchor blocks or structures at each end.

Comments are closed.