Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) has revealed a section of the road at the Makupa Bridge and Changamwe Interchange will be completed before Christmas.
The authority anticipates that the roadwork will be completed before Sunday, December 22, meaning the road will be fully functional before the busy festive period. The 457-metre-long bridge constructed for Ksh4.5 billion in 2022 is set to bring seamless movement for motorists and passengers, ending weeks of uncertainty in Mombasa.
One of the key challenges the bridge has encountered was a missing link with the Mombasa-Kwa Jomvu Highway project which inevitably led to drainage problems.
These drainage issues have forced drivers to divert to one lane when they get to the bridge, leading to a major traffic snarl at the bridge.
A bridge along Makupa Causeway connecting Mombasa Island and Kenyan inland
To combat perennial flooding, KeNHA installed an additional culvert to enhance the road’s capacity by ‘dewatering’ it.
According to KeNHA Deputy Director of Communication Samwel Kumba, the road authority was racing against time to complete the road works ahead of an expected surge in traffic, when Kenyans travel to and from the coast during the festive period.
“The project is complete but had a small section that was the missing link between these two major projects,” he said.
Kumba also revealed that the road works would have been completed much earlier, had the repairs not been halted by the short rains.
“A team of Engineers came and confirmed that the ground is now ready to receive bitumen. The constructor has also assured us that the bitumen has already been acquired and processed,” he added.
Installation of bitumen in three layers is only expected to take a couple of hours, but Kumba says the road will be given some time to heal before it is finally ready for usage.
Launched in 2022, the Makupa Bridge was a replacement for the Makupa Causeway which was constructed by the colonial administration in 1929.
The bridge was a game-changer for Mombasa residents, who relied on the causeway to cross to the opposite sides of Kenya’s only Island city for nearly a century. This was always a tall order for residents due to the high population.
The Makupa Bridge was one of the Uhuru regime’s flagship projects in the coastal region. The four lanes will help reduce the time taken to travel from Moi International Airport in Mombasa and other suburbs in the western part of the city to 10 minutes.
A photo of Makupa Bridge in Mombasa, Kenya.
Kenya National Highways Authority