#Magadiroadneedshelp

Part two: #Magadiroadneedshelp

Solutions

Nature of alternative routes.

We need to look at how to get people to use alternative routes from Maasai lodge bus stop to Tuskys Chap Chap without using Magadi road if they do not need something there. Quite a number of alternative routes are available but their main problem is usability. Sometimes the feeder roads have big borders of stone that are not flattened, when flattened are not well done or simply the roads are left to dilapidate so much that you simply choose not use them e.g. the route adjacent Nafrom hardware that passes right outside Thorn tree pre-primary school- stagnant water has rendered the road impassible unless you use a speed of 2 kilometers per hour.

Of ultimate importance is Rimpa road and Gataka road.  

Rimpa road

Those coming from Rimpa and its environs almost all the way to Kiserian should be encouraged to use this road. It is better than it has been for years. It is still too dark and the flattening of the road needs to be done one more time to make it car friendly. This will allow drivers to move faster and at least feel safer. In my opinion it should be considered as a matatu route to get passengers to Maasai lodge without going through Magadi road. 11 Kilometers is a small price to pay. Much smaller than 2 hours of sitting still in traffic.

Gataka road

Those coming from Kiserian, Rimpa and Nkoroi and do not need to stop on Magadi road should use this road all the way to World peak international limited (Now Oryx petrol station). The biggest issue of this road is that KENHA/KERRA were on site and fixed the murram road up to Nakeel Secondary and off they went. Not an inch more. Driving on this road is suicidal i.e. between Nakeel Seconday and World peak international limited (Now Oryx petrol station) the craters on the road literally swallow a small car. It is impossible to use it especially the area around Boon house school. Taxi drivers usually will charge 1,000/= for that distance of 2.6 Kilometers- the road is just too bad. Yet this road would ease massive traffic on Magadi road. Most matatus are filled to capacity by the time they get to Tuskys Chap chap going to town hence don’t need to get to Magadi road for more passengers. Indeed they can drop off people at the Seniors driving school stage.

Bus Stop

Sincerely, how can the car entrance/exit of Uchumi Supermarket, World peak international limited (Now Oryx petrol station) became a bus stop? While we have a big bus stop at Seniors driving school? Why not enforce having the matatus use the correct bus stop? They create unnecessary traffic jam on the road and it also becomes a ripe area for multiple accidents.

This is also the same with Tuskys Ongata Rongai shopping centre. In fact in my opinion this is what creates all that traffic in Ongata Rongai. Even after that parking lot was hived into a bus stop so it could move from the road, you still especially the minibuses turning/reversing/picking passengers in the middle of Magadi road. Sometimes the minibuses can’t all fit in the stage so they are slightly parked on the road. They also block of the entry to the supermarket. The end result? Traffic jam all the way to Magenche hardware. At the Cleanshelf supermarket if there is no Traffic policeman you will know when you are at Tuskys chap chap and it is 11.00 a.m and the traffic is moving slower than a snail. I guess we are not disciplined enough to use the road on our own.

At kware a traffic policeman is enough to guide all road users to continue their journies or if matatus are turning to pick/drop passengers they need to get into the bus station. At least the traffic here eased though I think it just moved to Tuskys Supermarket shopping centre stage.

Overlapping.

This is illegal in Kenya by law. Why it happens so massively in Ongata Rongai is beyond me. Especially the stretch between Tuskys chap chap and Nairobi women hospital, Maasai lodge stage and Mukoma road.  Matatu’s, personal cars, lorries name it. Some people think they are in a hurry than the rest of us waiting (im)patiently in the traffic. This can be curbed by the traffic police by just disciplining about 6 drivers, word will be spread and the vice will end.

Proper road usage.

Something happens to a population that spends a big chunk of its time on the road. They stop being cautious and helpful on the road. It is not usual to find someone trying to overtake 6 cars in a row in this very busy traffic jammed road, another joining the road and completely blocking of the other road users for more than 10 minutes, dropping and picking passengers on the road e.t.c. The vices are endless. We threw our road courtesies outside the window.

Use of Ngong road to Kiserian.

This would be an appropriate route for those who live in Kiserian/Nkoroi/Rimpa instead of using Magadi road. The only problem with the route is the state of the road between Ngong and Kiserian. If you have a weak heart and find yourself in a car on this road two things are likely to happen:-

1.       You get a cardiac arrest.

2.       You throw up your intestines.

The road is in such a bad state that I think the County government of Kajiado should just remove the tarmac on the road and reclassify the road as a murram road. It would be more user friendly that way and more attractive to the residents for its usage. As it is-nightmare of a road.

v  The distance between Ngong town and Kiserian town is 12.6 kilometer, without traffic you can cover the distance in 30 minutes. (Totally impossible with the current state of the road).

The interventions suggested here are quite simple and just need the intervention and seriousness of the County government of Kajiado, traffic police and cooperation of the road users.

I have also compared the distances of other towns just to show how near Rongai is to Nairobi CBD and how traffic jam makes a difference in the way a town is perceived by the populace.

v  The distance between ICEA building in Nairobi CBD and Ruaka town is 13.6 kilometers ,without traffic you can cover the distance in 26 minute via Limuru road.

v  The distance between Railways bus station and Kikuyu town is 22.7 kilometers ,without traffic you can cover the distance in 36 minutes.

v  The distance between Nairobi CBD and Ruiru town is 26.4 kilometers, without traffic you can cover the distance in 39 minutes via Thika super highway.

This few actions could make Ongata Rongai a more habitable place to live, visit, and invest as we quietly wait for the dual carriage way which was in the 2013-2014 National budget then……………………….No one seems to know about it!

We need a population of people who are not fatigued by the amount of time they spend on such a short distance. We need a road where we are sure if an emergency occurs we can save lives and property  (Remember the unfortunate incident when The Legend club burned down? How long did it take the fire brigade there? The traffic jam afterwards took about 5 hours to clear way after midnight. What happens when there are serious medical emergency cases?) 

We must get moving and we can do it. Tell someone who tells another person to tell another person who tell another who is in a position to stand up and say- Enough is enough we are losing a lot of monies worth of investment because of 6.06 kilometers worth of traffic jam. We must do something: - TODAY.

Sojourner

These directions (from google maps) are for planning purposes only. You may find that construction projects, traffic, weather, or other events may cause conditions to differ from the map results, and you should plan your route accordingly. You must obey all signs or notices regarding your route.