Southern Bypass to connect through Luzira
Cars stuck in traffic jam on Jinja road. The Southern Bypass is purposed to help decongest such roads. PHOTO BY joseph kiggundu.
What you need to know:
A new highway is being planned to run from Jinja through Kampala to Entebbe and plans are underway to begin compensating those that will have to move.
Kampala
A glimpse of hope to reduce the congestion on Jinja and Entebbe highways is in sight after the Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra) started marking and carrying out valuation on the Southern Bypass.
A 94-kilometre stretch from Jinja to Kampala then Entebbe will decongest traffic on the two busiest highways in the country.
Unra’s spokesperson Dan Alinange said they have embarked on the process of compensating land and property owners where the road will be constructed. “Scott Wilson Company has been contracted to carry out the work in four years’ at an estimated US$800m (Shs2.09 trillion,” Mr Alinange said.
The Southern Bypass Express Highway, which will be 17km, will start at Butabika, on the eastern outskirts of Kampala, where it will connect with the New Kampala-Jinja Express Highway and connect in Munyonyo with the new Kampala-Entebbe Highway.
Another 77km stretch called Kampala-Jinja Express Highway will connect to Jinja Township.
Some parts of the road will have eight lanes like in Kampala. Others will have six lanes between Bweyogerere and Lugazi. Then a dual carriage between Lugazi and Jinja.
Like the Entebbe Express Highway, the road users will be charged. Uganda Bus Rapid Transit Transport system research found out that there is a looming acute crisis if alternatives aren’t got on the Entebbe and Jinja highways.
Vehicle traffic on Entebbe Road is highest in the Kampala Metropolitan Area at 51,834 followed by Jinja Road at 42,857. Many users of the roads spend more than an hour on journeys that would have taken 12 minutes to reach their destination at standard speed without traffic jam.
