Potholes: The recurring rash Nakuru city just can't seem to get rid off

Large sections of Nakuru City’s roads have fallen into disrepair, with potholes and uneven patches making daily travel a struggle for motorists alike.

From the busy Kenyatta Avenue to residential streets in Free Area, Milimani, and Rhonda, complaints about impassable roads have become a near-daily chorus among residents.

The situation has worsened following recent heavy rains that washed away bitumen and deepened cracks on already weak surfaces.

On some routes, matatus and private cars now snake through makeshift detours to avoid the craters that threaten to damage vehicles or cause accidents.

On Kenyatta lane, the road that leads to Riva petrol station, Market road that goes along 4NT, Mololine Sawa stages and Top market all the way to the conjoining Station road that comes from the stage and joins Mburu Gichua road at the Lions Garden or Total Roundabout.

These are just a few roads highlighted that Mtaa Wangu was able to conduct a spot check on.

Online, residents have voiced outrage over several other access roads in and out of town that have become a major nuisance to road users.

The deterioration has sparked questions about the state of road maintenance in Nakuru barely two years after the city was granted its charter.

“For us matatu drivers, it’s worse because we go through these roads dozens of times a day. Sometimes traffic builds up because cars are parked on the roadside, leaving no space to maneuver through the potholes; hence, we have to slow down and pass through them carefully to avoid damaging the vehicle, and sometimes that leads to jams,” says Samuel Kariuki, a matatu driver on the London–CBD route.

For boda boda operators, the potholes are equally frustrating.

“For us boda riders, these potholes are tricky because we’re always weaving through traffic. You have to keep maneuvering and braking suddenly to avoid the holes or cars ahead, and that’s how most minor accidents happen,” says Fredrick Kioko, a rider operating around the CBD.

In an interview with Gitau Thabanja, the City Manager in September, on whether Nakuru qualified to be a city or not, he noted an improvement of several roads owing to the city status, with more earmarked for tarmacking this year, boasting of a hefty Sh. 600 million budget for development projects.

He also noted about decentralization of services away from the CBD as the city expands to better capture the residents’ needs, yet here they are with a sack full of complaints with agenda number one being shoddy roads. Don’t get them started on security lights among other things.

With the complaints mounting many are questioning whether Nakuru’s infrastructure is keeping pace with its city status or are getting complacent with how little it means if the basics remain broken.