In August 1895, the Uganda Railway bill was introduced at Westminster, London. This bill authorised the construction of a railway from Mombasa to Uganda. The bill passed into an act in 1896, and a civil engineer named George Whitehouse was assigned to oversee the project. Construction ran smoothly until they reached Macupa Creek on the northern side of the island. With six kilometres of tracks already lain from Kilindini Harbour, Whitehouse had to think of ways to span the railway line over this creek.
Construction of the railway was stalled in order to build a bridge. But first, a temporary wooden viaduct was built to facilitate the movement of raw materials to the mainland. Within 90 days, it was complete, and focus returned to the main bridge.
It was far from easy: Whitehouse had to build a sturdy structure that did not restrict boat traffic, tidal flow, nor create erosion problems. It took eight months for construction to be completed and it was opened in July 1898 and called Salisbury Bridge. The name came from Lord Salisbury, Britain’s two-term Prime Minister who served from 1885 to 1892, and then from 1895 to 1902. While this bridge was important in permanently connecting Mombasa Island to the mainland, it was a step of the project that hadn’t initially been considered and caused a major delay in the construction of the railway.
By 1929, there was need to replace Salisbury Bridge with a causeway. The new causeway would include the old rail crossing and a road crossing for pedestrians and vehicles. Upon completion, it was named Macupa Causeway after the creek that it traversed. Over time, the spelling of the word changed to Makupa and has remained the same to date. Spanning 2.4 kilometres, Makupa Causeway is one of three road links between the island and the Kenyan mainland – the other two being the Nyali Bridge and the Kipevu Causeway. Unfortunately, the concerns that Whitehouse took into account when building Salisbury Bridge were disregarded during the construction of the causeway.
Since Makupa Causeway separates the waters surrounding Mombasa Island into Tudor Creek to the east and Port Reitz Creek to the west, there is hindrance of movement of water and marine life which has decayed the ecosystem. Furthermore, the traffic volume has grown beyond the design capacity of the causeway, making it a major bottleneck in the entry and exit from the Island.
