Ruto commits to KSh38.7B Kiambu Road dualling and new Nairobi-Thika Expressway

The Mt Kenya Times

News
14 November 2026

The Mt Kenya Times

The president’s pledge to Kiambu leaders signals an infrastructure push in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area — but one key project remains mired in feasibility studies

By James Mwangi

President William Ruto on Friday pledged to prioritise the dualling of Kiambu Road and the construction of a new Nairobi-Thika Expressway, committing his administration to two of the most consequential road infrastructure projects in the Nairobi Metropolitan Area during a meeting with Kiambu County leaders at State House, Nairobi.

The announcements carry both developmental and political weight. Kiambu is among the most densely populated counties in Kenya, its road network under daily pressure from commuter traffic, commercial vehicles and an expanding urban population that has long outgrown the infrastructure built to serve it. For residents who spend hours each week on congested routes into Nairobi, the commitments — if delivered on schedule — would represent a tangible improvement in daily life.

“We are giving priority to key infrastructure projects in Kiambu County, including the dualling of Kiambu Road and the construction of the Nairobi-Thika Expressway, to ease transport and improve connectivity within the Nairobi Metropolitan,” Ruto said. He framed the investments within his administration’s broader equity agenda, adding: “We are deliberate and intentional in ensuring that every part of Kenya benefits equitably from our transformation agenda. No county, no community and no region will be left behind. Usawa ni Sawa.”

The Kiambu Road project is the more advanced of the two. Cabinet approved the KSh38.7B scheme in November 2025, with the Kenya National Highways Authority confirming plans to upgrade the 23.5-kilometre Pangani-Muthaiga-Kiambu-Ndumberi corridor from a two-lane road into a four-lane dual carriageway, flanked by two-lane service roads, pedestrian walkways and six footbridges. New bridges, overpasses and interchanges are planned at key junctions including Kamiti Road, Banana Road and the Northern Bypass, while two bypasses around Kiambu Town will divert through-traffic away from the town centre. The National Land Commission has already published notices for the compulsory acquisition of eleven land parcels in Nairobi and Kiambu counties to facilitate the works.

The Nairobi-Thika Expressway presents a more complicated picture. Ruto announced in February 2026 that construction of the approximately 60-kilometre elevated route — running from the Museum Hill Interchange in Nairobi to Thika Town — would begin in September. That timeline has since slipped. Deputy President Kithure Kindiki acknowledged in October 2026 that the project was still undergoing final design and feasibility studies, a disclosure that places a question mark over the administration’s earlier schedule. The expressway is designed to run above the existing Thika Superhighway, offering motorists an additional route without disrupting traffic on the road below — a technically ambitious proposition that may partly explain the delays.

Both projects sit within a wider government infrastructure programme targeting connectivity across the Nairobi Metropolitan Area. The administration’s argument — that improved roads unlock economic growth, reduce travel times and attract investment — is well-founded in principle. The test, as with every infrastructure pledge in Kenya’s political history, lies in execution.

With the August 2027 general election drawing closer, the pressure to show concrete progress on the ground, rather than announcements at State House, will only intensify.