Nairobi

Motorists Stranded Overnight as Traffic Paralysis Grips Nairobi-Nakuru Highway

Hundreds of travellers found themselves sleeping in their vehicles on Friday night after a massive traffic jam brought the Nairobi-Nakuru highway to a complete standstill for over seven hours.

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The extensive snarl-up, which stretched for several kilometres in both directions, left commuters and cargo transporters marooned along one of Kenya’s busiest arterial roads during what should have been smooth holiday travel.

According to accounts from affected road users, the paralysis resulted from a combination of ongoing road maintenance activities and poor driving behaviour by motorists attempting to beat the festive season rush.

Witnesses reported that numerous drivers engaged in reckless overtaking manoeuvres and violated lane regulations in their haste to transport holiday travellers to their destinations, compounding the congestion caused by construction zones.

The situation deteriorated rapidly as darkness fell, with both public transport vehicles and private cars immobilized along the corridor. Law enforcement officers deployed to manage the crisis struggled to restore normal traffic flow despite working through the night.

Two areas bore the brunt of the disruption. The Mai Mahiu stretch near Naivasha experienced severe bottlenecks, while the Salgaa to Mau Summit section became virtually impassable as vehicles attempting to circumvent queues created chaotic overlap situations that further slowed clearance operations.

Visual documentation captured long convoys of commercial buses and freight trucks stationary along the route, with movement reduced to a crawl where any progress occurred at all.

The Motorists Association of Kenya issued a strongly worded statement on Saturday morning criticizing the Kenya National Highways Authority for what it termed poor planning and timing of infrastructure works.

The lobby group questioned the decision to conduct major maintenance during peak holiday travel periods, arguing that such scheduling demonstrates insensitivity to public needs and contradicts the authority’s core mission of facilitating smooth transportation.

“Undertaking significant roadworks precisely when thousands of citizens are travelling for festive celebrations shows a fundamental disconnect from the realities faced by ordinary Kenyans,” the association’s statement read.

The motorists’ body went further, alleging that the congestion at Mai Mahiu, Gilgil, Salgaa, and Kikopey was not merely coincidental but part of a calculated strategy to manufacture justification for future road tolling initiatives.

“We are witnessing what appears to be manufactured congestion designed to create false narratives about highway capacity constraints, ultimately aimed at legitimizing toll collection on public roads,” the association claimed.

The group has called for immediate reforms in how road maintenance is scheduled, demanding that authorities demonstrate greater transparency in planning and prioritize the welfare of road users.

“What Kenya needs is thoughtful administration that places motorist safety, efficient mobility, and human dignity at the centre of infrastructure management decisions,” the statement concluded.

The incident has reignited debates about highway management during high-traffic periods and raised questions about coordination between road authorities and traffic management agencies during the busy festive season.