Nairobi — Travel time between Nairobi and Central Kenya is steadily reducing as the Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road and the near-complete Marua Interchange, now 99.5 per cent complete, transform one of the country's busiest transport corridors.
Motorists using the route have, over the years, endured crippling traffic congestion, particularly around Karatina town, where journeys from Nairobi to Nyeri and beyond could stretch to five hours during weekends and peak travel periods.
Today, road users say that experience is steadily fading as the multi-billion-shilling project nears completion .
At the centre of the transformation is the Marua Interchange, a major infrastructure component along the 84-kilometre Kenol-Sagana-Marua corridor that forms part of the Great North Road and Trans-African Highway No.4 linking Cairo, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Lusaka, Gaborone and Cape Town.
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The interchange sits on a strategic trade route connecting the Port of Mombasa to Ethiopia and the wider Horn of Africa through Nairobi, Isiolo and Moyale, making it one of the country's most important transport links for regional cargo movement and economic integration.
The works include a 20-metre single-span interchange bridge, a roundabout and five traffic loops labelled A, B, C, D and E. Road marking, drainage systems and guardrail installation have already been completed, with only landscaping and installation of streetlights remaining before final completion.
The interchange was specifically designed to ease congestion, improve safety and separate traffic flow along a corridor that has historically experienced heavy traffic pressure and frequent accidents due to rising traffic volumes and limited road capacity.
Residents and motorists say the impact is already visible.
Peter Kananu, a resident of Karatina in Mathira Sub-County, says travel time between Nairobi and Central Kenya has reduced dramatically since construction works intensified along the corridor.
"Since the roadworks started, congestion has eased considerably in most sections, although some delays remain in parts of Karatina town," he says.
According to Kananu, journeys that previously took up to five hours can now be completed in nearly two hours, particularly outside peak traffic periods.
"Mostly on weekends, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. For those travelling to Nairobi, they now use two hours to arrive compared to five hours we used before construction and expansion of this road," he adds.
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The biggest changes are being felt along Lot 2 of the project, which stretches from Sagana through Kibingoti, Kibirigwi and Karatina to Marua, previously among the most congested sections of the highway.
The larger Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road expansion project under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) had initially been scheduled for completion by October 18, 2023, before stalling alongside hundreds of national infrastructure projects.
Under President William Ruto's administration, the government revived the project through a securitisation financing model introduced in 2025 to unlock funds for over 500 stalled road projects nationwide. The financing approach uses future cash flows to raise upfront funding for contractor payments without increasing public debt pressure.
Beyond improving mobility, the project has created employment opportunities for skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers while boosting trade, agriculture and transport along the corridor.
As final works continue, the Marua Interchange and the wider Kenol-Sagana-Marua Road are increasingly being viewed not just as transport infrastructure, but as a gateway to faster movement, regional trade and economic transformation across Central Kenya and the Horn of Africa corridor.
