The Isiolo - Lokichar Highway is 416 km long. A 49 km section is already
upgraded under a separate Isiolo-Moyale project. The section to be constructed
under LAPSSET project is therefore 367 km. Currently no direct road link exists
along the proposed routing, but some segments have unpaved road tracks. The
road will be largely new construction requiring paving, drainage and road
furniture. The road is intended to divert transit traffic from Mombasa Port and
the Northern Corridor via Uganda to Juba in South Sudan.
The design standards adopted are an asphalt paved
single carriageway highway with carriageway width 7m and 2.0m wide paved
shoulders. General design speed is 100 - 120 km/h and maximum gradients 3%
except for 20km mountain section with 60 -90 km/h design speed and 10-12%
gradients. The road section commences
east of Isiolo town, proceeds north along Isiolo Moyale highway for 49km before
branching west at Lerata to Wamba , Baragoi, across Suguta Valley to Lokori and
Lokichar located along the Kitale - Lodwar - South Sudan highway. The road traverses a fairly easy flat to
rolling terrain except for the 20km mountainous escarpment section descending
to the 28km flat floor of the Suguta valley.
The notable bridge structures cross several perennial and dry season
rivers and the Suguta floodplain. The
key junctions are at the intersection with Isiolo-Moyale highway and the
Kenya-Sudan highway where grade separated interchanges are proposed. In order
to cater for future increase in capacity, the road reserve to be acquired for
the project is 100m wide which will allow for construction of a future second
carriageway.