Over 31,000 vehicles use Nairobi Expressway every day - CS Macharia says

Over 31,000 vehicles have used the Nairobi Expressway every day since it was opened up to the public on May 14, 2022, albeit on a trial basis.

This is according to Transport Cabinet Secretary (CS) James Macharia who on Tuesday noted that the Expressway had significantly reduced traffic snarl-ups on the busy Mombasa Road following its commissioning.

The Expressway’s trial run, President Uhuru Kenyatta said in early May, would enable his administration to identify sections of the road that needed to be polished up before its official launch.

“The road has been on a pilot phase over the last two weeks and so far we can say that it has been a success by the number of vehicles that we see there, at times over 31,000 on a daily basis,” said the CS in a statement.

Macharia likewise urged motorists planning to use the Expressway to enrol for the manual tolling card (MTC) or the electronic tolling card (ETC) to reduce the little traffic that was recorded during the period. Longer time to process payments on the road has been attributed to the said traffic.

“What I would urge Kenyans is to get either the ETC or the MTC to reduce traffic on the expressway,” said CS Macharia.

“Further the CS urged Kenyans to get either the manual tolling card or the electronic tolling card as opposed to using cash in order to reduce traffic along the expressway way.”

Registering for an MTC will cost you Ksh.1300, Ksh.300 for service charge, and Ksh.1000 to be loaded onto the card.

For an ETC one will be required to produce a national ID and the Logbook of the vehicle being registered at a cost of Ksh.3000, Ksh.1000 or service charge and Ksh.2000 to be loaded onto the card.

The road has 11 tolling stations, 54 toll plazas, 54 cameras along the whole 27-kilometre road with 126 cameras inside the toll plazas. The entire road is monitored with recordings being done at 30 minutes intervals.  Further, there’s a smart monitoring system that detects congestions, spillage, vehicle reversals, pedestrian crossing and emergencies