This road, together with its sister road,
Nairobi–Malaba Road, is part of the
Great North Road, that links the Kenyan coast to the land-locked countries of
Burundi,
Eastern DR Congo,
Rwanda,
Uganda and
South Sudan. The road moves more than 50 percent of all goods traded in the
East African Community. Due to the volume of traffic, and the concentration of heavy-duty transport vehicles, the route is accident-prone, accounting for a large number of injuries and fatalities in the region. In 2013 alone, 3,179 people lost their lives in traffic accidents on the combined Mombasa–Malaba Road. The
government of Kenya has plans to expand the road to dual carriageway, with a total of six lanes outside
Mombasa Island, increasing the number of lanes to twelve, on the island itself. It is expected that solicitation of bids from funders and contractors will be announced before the end of calendar 2016. When completed, the road will become
Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway ==Towns==