Nairobi–Mombasa Road alone, 3,179 people lost their lives in traffic accidents on the combined Mombasa–Malaba Road. The government of Kenya has plans to expand the road to dual carriage, with a total of six lanes outside Mombasa Island, increasing the number of lanes to twelve, on the island itself. It is expected that solicitation of bids from funders and contractors will be announced before the end of calendar 2016. When completed, the road will become Nairobi–Mombasa Expressway The following towns, listed from west towards the east, are located along the highway: The following major intersections lie along the Nairobi–Mombasa Road, listed from
Mombasa Peninsula, the Indian Subcontinent and China. 16th-century Portuguese voyager Duarte Barbosa claimed, "[Mombasa] is a place of great traffic and has a good harbour in which there are always moored small craft of many kinds and also great ships, both of which are bound from Sofala and others which come from Cambay and Melinde and others which sail to the island of Zanzibar." Vasco da Gama was the first known European to visit Mombasa, receiving a chilly reception in 1498. Two years later, the town was sacked by the Portuguese. In 1502, the sultanate became independent from Kilwa Kisiwani and