Life saving footbridges to be set up in two Highway Blackspots

Last Updated 13 years ago by Kenya Engineer

The loss of lives along Nairobi-Mombasa road is bound to stop if pedestrians make use of the footbridges to be constructed at Bellevue and General Motors; the sites considered blackspots.  In a ground breaking ceremony at Bellevue today, courtesy of Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), there was a launch of the construction of the two foot bridges.

The two projects are under the contractor, M/s H. Young & CO (EA) limited and have Kenya Roads Board (KRB) as the financier. They will cost approximately KSh 300 million and are set for completion in eight (8) months dated April 12, 2014. These are just two of five sites to be constructed along Mombasa Road.

In attendance was the Principal Secretary for the Ministry of Transport and infrastructure, Eng. John Mosonik who was the chief guest and accompanying him was Dr. Evans Kidero, Governor of Nairobi County.

Speaking at the event, Eng. Mosonik said that studies have revealed that in order to avert any more deaths such interventions are a priority.

“Although KeNHA has provided Zebra Crossings and Street Lights in some areas to facilitate safety for pedestrians and offer a lasting solution to pedestrians, safety has been lacking. This is why these projects are in important in as far as safety is concerned,” said Eng. Mosonik. 

The sites were chosen with reference to accident statistics taken that showed accident-prone sites and the footbridges are meant to protect the pedestrians who make up for almost half the number of lives lost in road accidents. 

Dr. Kidero attested to the statistics saying that of the 3,000 people who may die in road accidents half of them are pedestrians. Of this half, 10 percent of them die in Nairobi. “The statistics of the previous year is on the average 2 people are knocked at this spot (Bellevue) every weekend. So, the building of these bridges will go a long way in alleviating this,” said the Governor.  

In addition, the Traffic Commandant who was also present at the launch said that so far the country has lost 2244 people in road accidents countrywide of which 1031 pedestrians; with 40 pedestrians from Nyayo Stadium Round about to Mlolongo, five (5) at Bellevue and seven (7) seriously injured. He said that the projects would also help the traffic officers.

“Thank you very much KeNHA for this initiative of putting this footbridge here. I think it will assist us also as enforcers,” he said.

The Director General for KeNHA, Eng. Meshack Kidenda and the Chairperson for KeNHA, Mrs. Hannah Muriithi who were present urged the road users, both motorists and pedestrians to make use of the facility provided so as to increase road safety.

“We are going to provide a bridge for pedestrians. But then the pedestrians we’ve seen in other places have chosen not to use the facilities provided and therefore, the designed concept we have here is addressing some of these issues. We want to believe that after this bridge is completed, accidents around this area will be drastically reduced,” said Eng. Kidenda.

Conclusively, it came out that people don’t use the foot bridges because they are not appealing and at times pedestrians get lazy to climb the stairs. So, instead of stairs these bridges have slumps. The design is meant to be appealing enough so as to encourage its use by pedestrians.

“This bridge that is coming up is very artistic, so that you can be appealed to use it,” said Mrs. Muriithi. 

Dr. Kidero lauded KeNHA for heeding to the cries of many people, KRB for funding the projects and the Engineer designers stating that the footbridges not only have structural integrity but also are appealing to look at.