The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) is taking a stand against overloaded trucks with the construction of a new weighbridge station at Kanyonyo, along the Thika-Garissa Road (A3).
KeNHA’s Athiriver Cluster Manager, Willy Thuku said the critical infrastructure project aims to curb axle load violations and reduce the cost of operating mobile teams along the key road.
“We expect it to be operational in a couple of months. It will help relieve the mobile teams that are manning Thika-Garissa road.”
The Kanyonyo weighbridge station will be equipped with modern technology to efficiently weigh trucks and identify those exceeding the permissible axle load limits. Trucks found to be overloaded will be penalized accordingly, deterring the practice and promoting responsible use of the roads.
Kanyonyo will be among the 26 new weighbridges set to be constructed by KeNHA. This will effectively clear overloaded trucks that have contributed to the high cost of highway maintenance.
Overloaded trucks are a significant threat to Kenyan roads. Exceeding weight limits leads to premature road damage, increasing maintenance costs and creating dangerous driving conditions.
However, high fines have deterred transporters from the vice, leading to a near perfect compliance rate in Kenya, highest in the region.
