The Influence of Road Infrastructure Development Projects on Urban Land Uses: a Case of Eastern Bypass

Abstract

Road infrastructure development in Kenya has risen steadily over the past decade as the need for urban land-use changes becomes a development agenda for economic prosperity. Ruiru is a classic example of a town that has benefited from different land uses. Construction of the Eastern bypass has improved development activities, leading to the region's growth. The impact of urbanization due to the increase in the road infrastructure in town has placed more pressure on the existing land. The current study focused on investigating how road infrastructure projects has an impact on urban land use, a case of the Eastern Bypass. The study specifically (1) investigated the extent to which road infrastructure development affects land use/land cover along the Eastern bypass;(2) established land use conflict driving forces that emerge from road infrastructure development along Eastern bypass; and (3) recommended medium-term urban management framework that will guide land management actors in prevention and management of land use conflicts caused by road infrastructure development projects. The study was instigated by the bid rent theory, industrial location theory, Central place theory, concentric zone model, and Hoyt’s sector model. Conflicts as a result of land use changes that emerge from the road infrastructure development on land use along the Eastern bypass were reviewed. The specific areas by geographical coordinates are 1.1530460S, 36.9271000E to the north-west, 1.1688500S, 36.9775970E to the north-east, 1.1565380S, 36.9251330E to the south-west and 1.1757160S, 36.9727610E to the south-east using land-use data from 2009 to 2021. Descriptive and historical designs were used as the main study design with a target population of residents along the Eastern bypass in the Ruiru sub-county. Stratified sampling was used to get a sample size of 382 respondents for primary data collection data obtained via a structured questionnaire. The findings indicated that vegetation and buildings continuously increased while bare land reduce throughout the study period (from 2009 to 2021). The road overlay length increases in 2021 more than in 2015 and 2009. Questionnaire findings collected indicated that most of the respondents live and work along the eastern bypass. The respondents noted that the most common access service is the electricity supply. Noise pollution, traffic congestion, insecurity, inadequate social amenities and conflict of activities and land uses are the main urban management challenges along Eastern bypass. The residents along Eastern bypass are also not familiar with the development control in the area. Therefore, there is need for land use management framework that will guide planning and enforcement of development controls.