Motorists advised to avoid Mai Mahiu-Naivasha road after Sundays earthquake

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has advised motorists to avoid the Mai Mahiu-Naivasha road after Sunday’s earth tremor caused a fault line on a bridge near Fai Amarillo factory.

Private vehicle operators have been advised to use the main Kamandura – Limuru – Kinungi – Naivasha Highway.

On the other hand, heavy commercial vehicle operators have been urged to excercise caution and restraint, and to follow traffic flow directions that are being provided by the Traffic Police Department.

Tremors were reported in Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos, Mombasa, Nyeri, Makueni and parts of Naivasha with seismologists pinpointing Taita Taveta as the epicenter of the magnitude 4.8 quake.

In a statement issued after the earth tremor, KeNHA said its engineers are on site monitoring any resultant damages to the road surface.

“In the meantime, traffic police have been deployed to the site to direct traffic on a detour of the road section that has been created to facilitate traffic flow,” said KeNHA.

“Particularly, we advise all motorists to observe lane discipline and avoid overlapping, which can result in traffic flow disruptions.”

The highways authority is expected to issue more updates on safety of the roads following the earthquake.

Meanwhile, the Meteorological department has also confirmed that there is no risk of a Tsunami at the coast, watering down an earlier alert that had advised residents of the coastal region to move to higher ground.