Small city,massive traffic: Who's got Nakuru's expansion plan?
Traders along the pavements where people walk and shelter themselves during rainy seasons leading to congestion on May 14,2025.
Nakuru, we need a bigger CBD. Hear me out.
Less than a decade ago, walking through town felt a little like threading a needle on a tightrope.
The pedestrian walkways were barely wide enough for two people to pass without brushing shoulders, and it was fine, no?
Now, even after an expanded pedestrian walk the size of a vehicle lane, we still have people traffic. And it’s worse.
The situation worsens during rainy weather, with pedestrians wielding umbrellas navigating the same crowded pavements as those without.
Additionally, groups of individuals with kashehe occupy these walkways, further contributing to congestion.
Even the streets have been overtaken by small-scale traders and hawkers who squeeze onto the same pedestrian walks, eager to catch the eye of their customers.
We even have rush hour.
We’ve been turned to our cousins in Nairobi who ply the Ngong’ or Rongai routes, who wait for the mats by panga-ing laini.
Residents plying the Whitehouse -mawanga route frustratingly wait for matatus to take them home on May 14,2025.
Nowadays, come rain or sunshine, people who ply the Whitehouse-Mawanga routes and Shabab Ng’ambo routes, pray for that one elusive matatu to pull up, then scramble and partition for Africa happens.
Piling on to this, now our traffic is being controlled by traffic cops, perhaps, again, hear us out, a lot of us may just have bought personal cars to reduce the kutemebea kama wayahudi we are going to the congested stages.
Granted, Nakuru isn’t the same town it was ten years ago, and it sure won’t be for another ten, and that’s not a bad thing. Growth means progress, and maybe it’s time we admitted the truth. We’ve outgrown our city.
It’s time for urban planning experts to get serious and think about the city’s expansion, better public transport systems, and space that serves people and businesses.
Eh! Eh! Not forgetting the drainage, we don’t want another expressway dam and a lake in the town. We can’t keep squeezing like toothpaste in a tube.
Nakuru deserves better.
Let’s learn from the mistakes that Nairobi made and build a city that fits its people!