Footbridge on Kenya's busiest Thika road opens after a long delay

A footbridge constructed for Sh 205 million at the Survey of Kenya on Thika Road has finally opened for pedestrians after years of delay, according to a report by Nation.

Commissioned for the safe crossing of pedestrians and steady flow of traffic, the tenure of the footbridge was authorized over three years ago, as per the reports.

The announcement of bridge opening was made by the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) earlier this Monday on Twitter.

The footbridge was commissioned with three new overpasses by the authority in May 2018 on Thika Road. The agreement was awarded to Fourway Construction, which is building another footbridge at the Garden City crossing, with a combined cost of Sh390 million.

The news of the onset of the footbridge circulated after several delays, when Peter Mundinia, the Director-General of KeNHA promised to seed up the process of its completion and open it by April 2020.

KeNHA is reportedly expected to enhance the safety measures of pedestrians and a bump in traffic flow is also predicted.

The section of Thika Road is a crucial route as it links Mathare slums to the Kenya School of Monetary Studies, and Outer Ring interchange parallelly.

Fourway Construction Limited has reportedly delayed the work since the Garden City footbridge is yet to be completed, whereas Interways Works Limited, which was employed to install the Witeithie and Mang’u footbridges for Sh430 million, has completed and installed the footbridges heretofore.

Handling about 200,000 vehicles daily, Thika Road is considered one of the busiest roads of Kenya, which links Nairobi to the main agricultural counties across Kenya.