Nairobi Expressway

Not to be confused with Nairobi–Mombasa Road.

Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway
The Nairobi–Mombasa
Route information
Expressway, also known
as the Mombasa– Length 326 mi (525 km)
Nairobi Expressway or Designated in 2019
the Nairobi–Mombasa History Expected completion in
Highway, is a proposed 2026

four-lane toll highway in Major junctions

Kenya. The highway will West end Nairobi
link Nairobi, the capital Voi
and largest city of Kenya
East end Mombasa
to Mombasa, the largest
seaport of the country. Highway system

The new highway is Roads in Kenya

expected to cut travel
times between the two cities from the current 6 to 10 hours
to approximately four hours.[1][2]

Contents
1 Location
2 Overview
3 History
4 Construction costs
5 Timetable
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

Location
The road starts at Gitaru along the Nairobi–Nakuru Highway,
approximately 24 kilometres (15 mi), northeast of Nairobi
City centre.[3] It continues in a general southeasterly
direction, through Ngong, Ongata Rongai, Kisaju and Isinya
to rejoin the existing Nairobi–Mombasa Road, just north of
Konza. The highway passes through nine Kenya counties to
end in the city of Mombasa at the Changamwe Roundabout,
a total distance of about 525 kilometres (326 mi).[4] The
coordinates of this road at Kibwezi are: 02°25'04.0"S,
37°57'39.0"E (Latitude:-2.417778; Longitude:37.960833).[5]

Overview
The planned expressway is a dual-carriage motorway with
initially four lanes, expandable to six lanes in the future. The
road will be capable of supporting sustained traffic speeds
of up to 120 kilometres (75 mi) per hour and will have
controlled access.[2]

The expressway is intended to serve as "a central part of the

national and regional transport system, helping promote
trade and development in Kenya" and the regional neighbors
of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo,[2] Burundi and South Sudan.[6]

The expressway is expected to improve roadway safety

between the two cities. It is also expected to reduce logistics
costs along the Mombasa-Nairobi transportation corridor.
The construction phase is expected to create an estimated
500 construction jobs.[7]

History
In February 2015, the Kenyan government hired
PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct a feasibility
study on the commercial and technical viability of the
Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway. The PwC report indicated
the highway was viable if the highway operator collected a
toll that would be used to retire the private capital used to
develop the expressway.[2][6] Starting about that time as
well, the government of Kenya, through the Kenya National
Highways Authority (KeNHA), began detailed talks with
Bechtel International on a public-private partnership (PPP) to
design, fund, construct and operate the highway.[8][9]

Construction costs
The cost of constructing this expressway is budgeted at
US$2.1 billion.[8] Funding is expected from the Export–
Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private
Investment Corporation, also from the USA.[10]

Timetable
In August 2017, KeNHA signed a binding agreement with
Betchel International, an American civil engineering and
construction company to design, construct, and operate the
proposed expressway.[2] The expressway will be developed
in 10 sections and is designed to have 19 interchanges.
Construction is expected to start in July 2018.[11] Completion
of the first section is expected in October 2019, with the
entire expressway expected to open in 2024.[2]

In April 2019, the Business Daily newspaper reported that

construction is expected to start in the second half of
calendar year 2019.[2]

See also
List of roads in Kenya
Transport in Kenya

References
1. Marete, Gitonga (14 August 2017). "Mombasa-Nairobi
expressway to be complete within six years". Business
 Daily Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 10 August 2017.
2. ^ a b c d e f g Amadala, Victor (9 August 2017). "Nairobi-
Mombasa expressway work starts in January – KeNHA".
The Star. Nairobi. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
3. Globefeed.com (5 April 2019). "Distance between
Central Nairobi, Kenya and Gitaru, Kiambu County,
Kenya". Globefeed.com. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
4. Okoth, Edwin. "Sh300 Billion Mombasa Mega Highway
To Bypass Nairobi". Business Daily Africa. Nairobi.
Retrieved 5 April 2019.
5. Google (5 April 2019). "The Nairobi–Mombasa
Expressway at Kibwezi, Kenya" (Map). Google Maps.
Google. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
6. ^ a b Njoroge, Kiarie (22 September 2016). "State
invites bids for expansion of Nairobi-Mombasa
highway". Daily Nation. Nairobi. Retrieved 10
September 2017.
7. Roadtraffic Technology (January 2021). "Nairobi-
Mombasa Highway Expansion Project". London, United
Kingdom: Roadtraffic-Technology.com. Retrieved 15
February 2021.
8. ^ a b Muchira, Njiraini (7 September 2017). "Kenya sets
the stage for expressway". The EastAfrican. Nairobi.
Retrieved 10 September 2017.
9. Munda, Constant (4 July 2018). "Kenya, US firm to hold
talks on Sh300 billion road". Business Daily Africa.
Nairobi. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
10. Macharia, Ken (7 August 2017). "Construction of
Nairobi-Mombasa high-speed express way to start in
2018". Nairobi: 98.4 Capital FM. Retrieved 10
September 2017.
11. Otuki, Neville (20 March 2018). "US company lobbies
Kenya for Sh300 billion road contract". Business Daily
Africa. Nairobi. Retrieved 20 March 2018.

Further reading
Dahir, Abdi Latif (November 8, 2020). "A Famed Fig
Tree's Days Are Numbered as a New Highway Plows
Through". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
Onyango, Protus (October 13, 2020). "Nairobi
Expressway troubles not over yet". The Standard.
Retrieved November 8, 2020.

External links
Website of Kenya National Highways Authority

Coordinates: 02°25′04″S 37°57′39″E