Southern Bypass to be closed partially for renovation

The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) plans to close a section of the Nairobi Southern Bypass to allow for renovation of key sections of the transit corridor.

Through the Ksh 716 million performance based contract which was awarded to Ebenezer Commercial Works in August 2022, the authority plans to undertake maintenance works on the road which include construction of a rigid pavement at the weighing motion, extension and construction of crash barrier on the median, repairs of dual carriageway and various structures and the replacement of expansion joints on key bridges along the road.

“We have selected this festive period when most of the traffic is expected to be reduced because most people may have travelled out of town. These major works entail replacement of expansion joints on three bridges along this road,” said Denis Odeck, KeNHA Director Corridor A.

KeNHA plans to replace expansion joint on three bridges at Ole Sereni, Kebera and the Ngong interchange.

The replacement of the current joints which had a lifespan of up to 15 years are being undertaken in what KeNHA says has been necessitated by the high traffic volume on the road. The new expansion joints on the three bridges will have a lifespan of up to 60 years.

“This is a very busy road. We have on average 25,000 vehicles using the road daily and a huge composition of that is actually the transit trucks because it’s a transit route and other vehicles that may want to pass the central business district,” said Jared Makori, KeNHA Deputy Director of Structures.

According to Makori, the joints will ensure there is smooth passage of traffic on top of the bridges as they allow the expansion and contraction of the bridges due to changes in weathers as well as enable the structure to respond appropriately to the impact of traffic.

“There will cutting and removal of existing joints, hacking part of the bridge deck to have a position to fix new expansion joints. This will take between 7 and 10 days to accomplish. During that time, there will be partial closure of sections affected by the works,” added Makori.

The partial closure of the road is expected to commence from December 24 to January 5, 2025.

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