The horrendous traffic situation in the city of Nairobi has been thorn in the skin for most Nairobi residents for quite a while. Most people in Nairobi estates are forced to leave their house as early as 5 a.m. so as to get to their offices in different parts of Nairobi on time. Avoiding the traffic madness in the streets of Nairobi, especially during rainy mornings, is quite a big piece to chew. It is estimated that Kenya loses approximately 37 billion shillings annually in terms of man-power, pollution and fuel attributed to traffic snarl-ups in Nairobi.

The population in Nairobi has escalated over the years. In 1963, the population in Nairobi was estimated to be roughly 350,000. It has however shot up to 3 million over the last fifty years in Kenya. In 2008, there were at least 300,000 cars in Nairobi and the rather inelastic infrastructure does not help the situation.

The Ministry of Roads and Public works in Kenya computed a statistical report on car usage and distribution in Nairobi. Apparently, 15% of Nairobi residents use their personal cars to ferry them in and around Nairobi and this contributes to 36% of the vehicles on the city roads. 30% of the residents used public transport and this accounts to 27% of the vehicles in Nairobi city. The other 45% of Nairobi residents are deemed to walk to their places of work. Sadly, most of those who walk to their duty stations are low income earners living in Nairobi low end areas such as Dandora and Kawangware and have to walk over 10 kilometers to get to Nairobi Industrial Area (where most of them are employed as casual laborers).

The roads in the city of Nairobi experience pressure as they are not expansive enough to handle the geometrically increasing populations in Kenya. The expansion of Thika road to a superhighway in Nairobi has highly favored the Thika road residents as the snarl up situation has been greatly ameliorated. Jogoo and Outering roads in Nairobi that connect the city center to the Nairobi east lands estates are some of the hardest hit roads by the snarl up menace. Both roads are estimated to have over 87,000 vehicles daily! Yes, the statistics on Nairobi roads are shocking and as much as the traffic policemen are strategically placed, the only way to stem this tide is to expand our roads in Kenya.

You could at least try to avoid this situation by avoiding these traffic hot spots in Nairobi if possible. Alternative feeder and access roads in Nairobi can be used so as to ease up in traffic along the main roads. There are some radio stations in Kenya that tell you in advance on the roads you should avoid. Some of these radio stations in Kenya include Kiss 100, Classic 105, Easy FM to name a few. The radio stations warn about the condition of roads to avoid in Nairobi. You could also spice it up by leaving for your intended destination well before time so as to give yourself an allowance of literally being parked on a road!