Kenyan police are trying to ease a traffic jam reportedly stretching for 50km (30 miles) on the highway between the port of Mombasa and the capital, Nairobi.
The road is not only crucial for Kenya, but also the region, as it links the port to East Africa's landlocked countries.
The worst-affected area is around Taru, about 80km from Mombasa.
Travellers say the jam has been caused by repairs to the road following heavy rains.
Hundreds of travellers were left stranded in a 19-hour traffic jam that crippled transport on the Mombasa-Nairobi highway.
The gridlock, which lasted from Tuesday evening to Wednesday afternoon, was caused by unfinished work on a road diversion in Taru and a heavy downpour that rendered the muddy stretch impassable.
A large number of buses, trucks, tour vans and other private vehicles were trapped in the jam that stretched from Maji ya Chumvi in Kwale County to Maungu in Taita-Taveta County, as the travellers waited for any form of intervention to enable them to resume their journey.
Some of the motorists opted to use alternative routes, including passages cleared for use by contractors building the standard gauge railway.
The motorists and travellers accused the road contractor of taking too long to complete the stretch.
Parents, accompanied by their children, agonised the most as they sought to make the young ones comfortable in the face of biting hunger and thirst.
Shops located between Mariakani and Maungu towns on the busy highway ran out of food after the stranded travellers bought all the stock.
“We have sold out all foodstuffs and soft drinks. All loaves of bread, biscuits, water, soda and anything edible is finished.
“The sad part is that we cannot get (more supplies) as the road is totally clogged up for the last 19 hours,” said Mr Michael Mwangadu, a shopkeeper at the Msufi trading centre, near Taru.
Vegetable transporters were forced to cook and feed on part of their merchandise after hunger pangs became unbearable.
A truck driver, who was transporting vegetables from Taveta to Kongowea Market in Mombasa, said he had to offload some of the vegetables and cook at the Mailikubwa trading centre.
He shared it with the other hungry travellers.
Buses from Kampala, Busia, Nairobi and other upcountry towns too got stuck at the Taru stretch, with the first bus that left Nairobi at 5pm on Tuesday arriving in Mombasa at noon Wednesday.
A traveller said “I left Mombasa at 9.30pm yesterday. I am only at Taru, 60 kilometres away.”
“Things are very bad. Traffic is not moving.”
Another traveller said he left Nairobi at 5pm on Tuesday. He was in the first bus that arrived in Mombasa at noon Wednesday after staying in the jam for 17 hours.
Traffic jams have recently become a common occurrence between Mariakani and Bachuma Gate, a stretch of about 50 kilometres.
Coast regional traffic police commandant Martin Kariuki said he had mobilised a contingent of traffic officers from Voi, Mackinnon Road, Taru, Samburu and Mariakani to deal with the situation.
“I am here with enough officers trying to direct vehicles but it’s hard because it has rained and the diversion is muddy,” said Mr Kariuki.
Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) Chief Executive Officer Wellington Kiverenge said the jam had caused massive losses to transporters and travellers.
“The jam is a major blow to transport business in the entire northern corridor. It has affected not only Kenya but the whole eastern Africa region,” he said.
Kenya National Highways Authority official Charles Njogu said engineers were expected at the site to deal with the problem.
Ongoing problems with the ferry services across the Likoni channel from Mombasa island to the southern mainland and massive traffic jams on the Nairobi to Mombasa highway outside Kenya’s port city have once again prompted key tourism stakeholders to issue sharp protests to the government.
While Mombasa County Governor Hassan Ali Joho repeated his demand for a bridge to be constructed to ease the daily struggle of commuters to get into and out of Mombasa is this project, if at all it materializes, still years away. Meanwhile, thankfully, is construction ongoing to link the international airport and the Nairobi to Mombasa highway to the south coast with a bypass via Dongo Kundu, now finally under construction but not ready for at least two more years.
‘The Governor is right, something must be done for commuters in and out of Mombasa. The Dongo Kundu bypass is for traffic from the airport to the south coast or from Nairobi but those who have to get into the city from the southern mainland, they have no option but to cross the channel. The ferries are notoriously unreliable and frankly speaking a disaster waiting to happen.
They should start by firing the top managers who just talk hot air. We in Mombasa are fed up that Nairobi should get so many bypasses and highways and we at the coast remain neglected. It has been like this for decades, no second bridge across to the northern mainland, no convention centre, no this and no that. Tourism at the south coast has suffered very much from such shortcomings and now they even destroy the beaches there with sand dredging.
It is as if those bigwigs in Nairobi are hell bent to destroy the coast’s main economic activity. It the government wonders why they keep losing elections at the coast, that is a place to start looking’ ranted a regular source from Mombasa when venting his frustration over these ongoing problems.
Traffic into Mombasa started to grind to a standstill on Tuesday when work carried out by contractors for the Kenya National Highway Authority first slowed down a growing number of trucks, busses, saloon cars and safari vehicles before torrential rains turned the hastily opened dirt road bypass into a mud quagmire in which one vehicle after another got stuck.
Social media messages showed desperate appeals from passengers to be rescued as they ran out of food and water while the few shops along this stretch of road, with prices for essential items reportedly rising by the hour, eventually closed after selling out what they had in stock.
Mohammed Hersi, Chairman of the Kenya Coast Tourism Association and CEO of Heritage Hotels left no doubt where he stood in this saga when he posted on his Facebook page:
As tourism players we raised this concern two months ago yet Kenha simply sat on its hands . What is so hard in getting a contractor to do his work with money given to you by KRA. In business we must raise revenue first before we can think on how to spend it. In goverment the revenue authority collects it and it is disbursed through treasury to bodies like Kenha . In 2015 vehicles getting stuck in a regional highway . What is so hard in fixing a single lane road ? What is so hard in coming up with a proper diversion ? Totally unacceptable . Bure kabisa ......
A few weeks earlier had Mohammed taken issue with the Kenya Ferry Services when he posted this comment:
Folks 3 Ferries are in now operation but a radical surgery is required at KFS.
What is painfully clear is that tourism, and trade for that matter too of course, are suffering immensely from these all too frequent interruptions and that what is being done to address the ferry breakdowns and eternal traffic jams seems too little too late. With anti-travel advisories against the Kenya coast now by and large lifted is it of paramount importance that visitors are able to do their two, three or four days safaris to Tsavo, Taita Hills and Amboseli by road without losing much time sitting in traffic jams when instead they should sit comfortably in their safari cars watching game in the parks.
It is important that those who chose to fly to Mombasa for a holiday can cross the Nyali bridge enroute to the north coast hotels and the Likoni ferry without wasting hours waiting for their turn to get on a ferry to reach their resort in Diani or else bite fingernails on the way to the airport, fearful they might miss their flights. If not, those tourists, confronted with such issues, may come to regret their choice of destination and under present circumstances, when every single extra tourist counts, this should be avoided at all cost.
Good wishes for better days ahead, in terms of increased visitor numbers but also to solve those perennial issues on ferry crossings and traffic into and out of Mombasa.
