Recently, road users in Nairobi
were super outraged because rush hour traffic ground to a halt when the county
government began to execute a plan to eliminate roundabout intersections. Vitriol
on Twitter rolled like the waters of a mighty stream.
Staggered by public outrage the
colored drums used to seal of the roundabout intersections rolled. And Nairobi
got its gridlock back. The county authorities, by the act of rolling out the
colored drums, conceded that they had not have a viable plan.
I thought Nairobi residents would
be inspired to seek a bold, sensible and permanent solution to Nairobi’s
numbing gridlock. I sent an appeal on Twitter asking #KOT to suggest practical ideas
to solve traffic gridlock. I learned that #KOT is extremely long on whining and
finger pointing and woefully short on solutions. Have we become a nation of
whiners? Is #KOT, despite its enormous power merely a lynch and activist mob?
I have read some truly bizarre
suggestions about what is needed to resolve Nairobi’s traffic problem. The myth
out there is that we need tens of billions of shillings to build light rail
transit, multiple level stack interchange and constant flow intersections. How
to accommodate cars in our cities is the most urgent consideration. But we have
failed to imagine livable and vibrant cities for people, without automobiles.
Next time you drive around look
at how much land and infrastructure is dedicated for the automobile in Nairobi
or other Kenyan cities; from parking at the street level to gas stations, to
car sale yards to roads. Compare this to sidewalks or cycle lanes or open
recreational space or benches on the street. If an alien were asked who owned
or lived in our cities, they would say cars and trucks.
When it was inaugurated, Thika
Superhighway was lauded as a bold and direct panacea to traffic gridlock. The
hitherto long-suffering commuter on what was Thika road heaved a long sigh of
relief. Today, Thika Superhighway is now gridlock central, especially during morning
rush hour. The exits no longer work. The more roads you build the more traffic
you get.
Cities will always lose the
battle to satisfy the demands of private motorists. The cost of satisfying the
whims of middle and wealthy classes is colossal and unjustifiable. To believe
that more roads could solve urban traffic gridlock is analogous to accepting
the fallacy that bloodletting could drain evil fluids, which cause disease.
Half a century ago, critics of
highways predicted there would be irredeemable tensions between vibrant
people-centered cities and the needs of cars. Urban planners chickens have come
home to roost. Orthodox city planning is not based on any knowledge about
cities work in real life.
Traffic gridlock will strangulate
and snuff life out of urban living. It is easy to blame the number of cars on
the road. It is easy to suggest that gas prices are too low and ought to be raised
so poorer drivers get their cars off the road. The annoying gridlock and
insatiable demand by cars for wider roads is really a symptom of our
incompetence at urban planning and management.
The combined effects of a lack of
safe walking or cycling areas, a lack of investment in public transit and expansion
of highways without enforcing land use planning, which has encouraged a proliferation
of suburbs, and widespread use of private cars. Unfortunately, considerable
energy and public resources is, now directed at dealing with the symptoms of our
incompetence, rather than addressing the root cause of the problem.
The use of private automobiles is
the cause of gridlock. Get rid of them. Create a disincentive for use of
private cars. Such disincentives must be complemented by realistic choices for
private care users.
Five measures could limit use of
private cars and alleviate gridlock: 1) Create a metro system, with express
lanes for commuter services and car pool; 2) Enter a public private public
partnership to provide park and ride services; 3) Eliminate of 60 percent of public
street level public parking; 4) Develop regional planning framework between
Nairobi county and the counties of Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado to contain
urban sprawl; 5) Introduce of road toll charges within a radius of 15 km from
the CBD.
Expensive infrastructure or
elimination of the roundabout will not solve Nairobi’s traffic gridlock; near
extermination of use private cars will.
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