The State Department for Roads is one of the two State Departments that make up the Ministry of Roads and Transport, the other being the State Department of Transport. It derives its mandate from the Executive Order No. 1 of 2023 which is implemented under the Technical Divisions and the Road Agencies. The State Department is the policy maker and provides oversight and regulatory role to all Road Agencies and players in the infrastructure subsector and to some extent the broader infrastructure sector.

The mandate of the State Department for Roads is to oversee development, rehabilitation, maintenance and overall management of the public road network in the country. It also includes the provision of technical advice to other Government Ministries and Agencies as well as the general public on road related issues. 

The State Department is responsible for the formulation, review and implementation of the Road policy that includes management, development and maintenance of the Road network. These policies include; Corridor management (protection of reserves and axle load control) development and maintenance, standards (geometric and pavement designs), Guidelines (Risk management, traffic toolkit, feasibility studies, contract management, etc). It is responsible for national roads development policy, the development, standardization and maintenance of national road infrastructure, materials, testing and advice on the usage, protection of road reserves and maintenance of security roads

A key focus of our government’s roads program is to maintain a transportation system that puts the safety of all road users at the forefront, and as our infrastructure vision moves forward, we continue to enhance our programs and services to best and securely serve all road users in the country.

The Government of Kenya has been undertaking reforms aimed at enhancing quality, efficiency and transparency in service delivery by public sector institutions. The Government’s commitment towards implementing reforms in roads sub-sector was clearly demonstrated by the development of the three agencies, Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA) Kenya Rural Roads Authority (KeRRA) Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) as provided in the Kenya Roads Act 2007.

To achieve its mandate, the State Department’s main objective is to facilitate adequate provision of physical infrastructure through policy formulation, research, design, supervision and regulation of standards in roads development and maintenance in the country.

They are charged with the responsibility of monitoring the quality of materials used in road construction and other infrastructure, research on performance of various types of construction materials, pavement design and geotechnical studies.  They do this through testing of construction materials and related products, field investigations and surveys for roads, buildings, airports and other infrastructure. They also carry out maintenance and calibration of Research and development of standards on construction materials, methods and safety for roads, building and other infrastructure

The Roads division is charged with the responsibility of Policy formulation and oversight of road construction and maintenance. They are responsible for monitoring and evaluation of road construction and maintenance and reviewing and updating manuals, standards and specifications to be in line with changing road construction technology in the road sector.