How a Road Is Giving Back Time to the Community in Elgeyo Marakwet
A public transport vehicle uses the newly graded road, significantly reducing travel time and improving the transport of mangoes, a key cash crop in the county.
In Endoo Location, Endoo Ward in Elgeyo Marakwet County, residents say time itself once felt like a burden whenever they had to travel.
What should have been a routine journey to Eldoret often turned into a long, exhausting ordeal that reshaped the entire day.
For many locals, the challenge was not only distance, but the strain of a difficult road that slowed every aspect of daily life.
Amos Limo, a resident of the area, recalls how demanding the journey used to be.
“Previously, a person had a lot of difficulty; someone would wake up at 9 a.m. and reach Eldoret at 4 p.m. The road was very difficult. You arrive there completely exhausted, like someone who has gone to the farm,” he said.
What once took hours of physical strain is now gradually changing as ongoing road works begin to improve mobility in the region. For residents, the impact is already being felt beyond transport alone.
Limo says the poor road network had long isolated the community, making even simple interaction and movement difficult.
“So I thank the government very much for reaching us there and remembering that we need roads. Previously, things to do with the road were a problem. Even coming to interact with people and knowing who this person is was difficult here,” he added.
The road, which previously had impassable sections due to potholes, loose stones, and occasional landslides, has also been central to the local economy, especially for farmers who rely on transporting mangoes and livestock to markets.
“What is most important is that we here depend on mangoes, and without a road, the business does not move. The farmer will not benefit, and the trader will not benefit. Someone may harvest mangoes, and they reach halfway on the road, then get spoiled because the road was a problem,” Limo explained.
He notes that before the current upgrades, much of the produce would spoil before reaching markets, reducing earnings for both farmers and traders.
The poor infrastructure also limited movement and access to essential services, leaving the area largely cut off from wider economic activity.
Engineer Solomon Njeru, the engineering surveyor overseeing the project under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), says the road is part of a larger corridor designed to open up the region.
“The road starts from kilometre zero at Kilangata, going to Eldoret, which we call B15,” he said.
The project covers several sections, including Lot Two from Tot to Kopasi, forming part of a wider network aimed at linking remote areas to major urban and regional markets.
Beyond engineering, Njeru says the project is also restoring what had been lost over time, access to time itself, disrupted by insecurity and poor infrastructure.
He adds that improved road access is expected to significantly reduce travel time, with goods now reaching Eldoret, Kisumu and even Tanzania within hours.
Residents like Limo already feel the change in their everyday life, shorter journeys, easier movement and renewed connection to the outside world.
As Engineer Njeru puts it, the road is not just improving transport; it is quietly giving back time that was once lost.
