A Guide for Engineers, Developers, and Contractors

Before you can plan an access road, size a drainage structure, or work out which authority to approach for a permit, you need to know what class of road you’re dealing with. Kenya’s road network is organised into a formal classification system, and that classification determines who manages the road, what design standards apply, and which agency you deal with for approvals.

This guide sets out how the system works, what each class means in practice, and why it matters for anyone planning works near a public road.

Why Classification Matters

Road classification in Kenya is not just an administrative label. It determines three things that affect almost every road-adjacent project:

  • Which authority has jurisdiction. National roads fall under the Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA), rural roads under the Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA), and urban roads under the Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA). Get the wrong authority and you’ll submit your permit application to the wrong desk.
  • Road reserve width and setback requirements. Higher-class roads carry wider reserves, which affects how close you can build, fence, or excavate.
  • Design standards. Geometric design, pavement thickness, and drainage requirements all scale with the road’s function and expected traffic.

The current system was established under the Kenya Roads Act, 2007, and refined through the Classification and Register of Roads gazetted in 2016 (Kenya Gazette Supplement No. 4 of 2016).

The Main Road Classes

Kenyan roads are classified by function, specifically by the level of centre they connect, running from international links down to local access.

Class S, Express Roads. The newest and highest tier, covering highways designed to move large volumes of traffic at the highest safe operating speed between major cities. Examples include the Nairobi Expressway and sections of the Mombasa Road corridor.

Class A, International Trunk Roads. These connect Kenya to its neighbours and to international ports, forming part of the wider Trans-African Highway network. The Nairobi to Mombasa road and the Nairobi to Malaba road (linking to Uganda) are Class A roads.

Class B, National Trunk Roads. These link nationally important centres, principal towns, and county headquarters to each other and to Class A roads or the national capital. The Kericho to Kisumu road is a typical example.

Class C, Primary Roads. These connect provincially important centres to each other or to a higher class road. They tend to serve as the main link for a county or region rather than a national corridor.

Class D, Secondary Roads. These link locally important centres, such as a divisional headquarters, to each other or to a higher class road.

Class E, Minor Roads. The lowest tier of the main classification, linking minor centres, markets, and local areas. Most rural feeder roads fall into this category.

Special Purpose Roads

Beyond the main A to E hierarchy, Kenya’s classification system also recognises special purpose roads, defined by land use rather than the size of the centres they connect. These carry their own letter codes and include:

  • Roads serving forest areas
  • Roads providing access to schools, hospitals, and government institutions
  • Roads serving settlement schemes
  • Roads serving sugar, tea, and wheat growing areas
  • Roads serving national parks and conservation areas
  • Unclassified roads, including those leading to mineral deposits

These roads are typically lower priority for national maintenance budgets but still fall under a defined management authority depending on location, and some carry their own access control requirements where they cross or connect to a national road.

Who Manages What: KeNHA, KeRRA, and KURA

The Kenya Roads Act, 2007 split road management across three separate authorities under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, rather than leaving one body to run the entire network. Each authority’s jurisdiction is defined by road class and, in KURA’s case, by location.

Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). KeNHA manages, develops, rehabilitates, and maintains Class S, A, B, and C roads, which together make up Kenya’s national road network. This includes international corridors, national trunk roads, and primary roads linking provincial centres. KeNHA is also the authority responsible for issuing Roadside Development Control permits, way leave approvals, and exemption permits for abnormal loads on these roads. Full details on that permit process are in our companion article, KeNHA Access Permit Requirements. More on KeNHA’s mandate and services is available on the KeNHA website.

Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA). KeRRA manages Class D and E roads, the secondary and minor roads that connect rural and locally important centres, markets, and settlements. KeRRA’s work centres on opening up rural connectivity, and its regional offices handle access and way leave approvals for any project touching a road under its jurisdiction. Details on KeRRA’s structure and current works are on the KeRRA website.

Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA). KURA takes over management of national trunk roads once they pass through gazetted urban areas, regardless of what class they would otherwise carry outside those boundaries. In practice, this means a Class A or B road running through a town centre may fall under KURA’s jurisdiction for that stretch, even though KeNHA manages the same road elsewhere. KURA also manages other urban roads within its 47-county coverage area. More information is available on the KURA website.

Knowing which of the three you’re dealing with, before you draft a single access drawing, is what keeps a permit application on the right desk and moving.

What This Means for Your Project

If you’re planning any of the following, road classification is the first thing to establish, not the last:

  • Access road design. The classification of the road you’re connecting to determines the minimum geometric standards for your access point, including sight distance, taper length, and junction spacing.
  • Permit applications. Class S, A, B, and C roads require a KeNHA access or way leave permit. Class D and E roads fall under KeRRA. Roads inside city or municipal boundaries go through KURA. Applying to the wrong authority is one of the most common causes of delay we see on client projects.
  • Setback and road reserve compliance. Reserve widths are wider on higher class roads. A structure that would comply on a Class D road may sit inside the reserve on a Class B road running through the same area.
  • Traffic impact and safety design. The expected traffic volume and speed on the road class you’re working next to shapes the safety audit and junction design requirements for your access point.

How Strasan Group Helps

Confirming the correct road class and the correct managing authority is one of the first steps our transportation engineering team takes on any road-adjacent project, before a single design drawing is produced. Getting this right at the outset avoids submitting a permit application to the wrong agency or designing an access point to the wrong standard.

Where the road in question is a national road under KeNHA, our road safety audits and KeNHA access permit service covers both the technical safety review and the permit pathway, so your project moves from design to approval without avoidable back-and-forth. For the full breakdown of KeNHA’s permit categories, documents, and fees, see our guide on KeNHA Access Permit Requirements.

If you’re not sure what class of road your project sits on, or which authority to approach, get in touch with our team before you finalise your site layout. It’s a five-minute question that can save weeks of rework later.