What To Expect From Cape Town’s New R481 Million Traffic Congestion Fixes
The City of Cape Town recently announced that it would be spending a budgeted R481 million to fix traffic congestion in the area.
In a statement released on Tuesday (12 June), the City’s mayoral committee Member for Transport and Urban Development, Brett Herron, explained that this money budgeted for congestion relief projects will be used over the next three financial years – starting on 1 July 2018.
“The money has been allocated to six road projects that are currently under construction: two in Kuils River; two in Kommetjie; one in Somerset West; and one in the Milnerton area; as well as to another 16 projects that are currently in the planning and design phase,” said Herron.
He added that as of April 2017 it was estimated that there is a R5 billion backlog in roads infrastructure projects across the city.
“We will need an on-going financial commitment and will have to incrementally invest in our road infrastructure and the so-called missing links in the road network in order to address this massive backlog,” he said.
“Apart from the City’s investment in congestion relief projects, the Western Cape Provincial Government has also made significant investments in improvements along the N1 and N2 freeways, and is also planning major upgrades along the N7 corridor.
“The progress report on the City’s Congestion Management Programme served before the TDA transversal committee recently, and the completed projects are as follows”:
Completed upgrades
- Plattekloof Road turned into a dual carriageway between Gert van Rooyen and De Grendel Avenues in Bothasig, in conjunction with private developers;
- Upgrade of the R300/Bottelary interchange in Kuils River, in conjunction with the Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works and the South African National Roads Agency Limited (Sanral);
- Extension of Amandel Road from Bottelary Road to the Bottelary River bridge;
- Extension of Saxdowns Road from the Haasendal development to the intersection with Halleria Street, completing the missing link between the Langverwacht and Bottelary Roads, in conjunction with private developers;
- Extension of Jip de Jager Road from Van Riebeeckshof to Racecourse Road in Bellville, in conjunction with private developers.
Another six road construction projects are currently under way:
- Widening of Van Riebeeck Road/Strand Street between the R300 and Peter Barlow Road, as well as the widening of the Van Riebeeck Road/R300 north-bound off-ramp in conjunction with Sanral;
- The dualling of Langverwacht Road between Amandel Road and the Zevenwacht Link Road;
- The dualling of Kommetjie Road between Capri Drive and Ou Kaapse Weg;
- The dualling of Ou Kaapse Weg between Kommetjie Road and Noordhoek Main Road;
- Dualling of Broadway Boulevard from Beach to Main Roads in Somerset West;
- Dualling of Bosmansdam Road between Montague Drive and Koeberg Road, in conjunction with private developers.
“As we are adding capacity to the existing road network to provide some form of relief in the severely congested areas of the city, we are also working on establishing an efficient, affordable, extensive and intermodal public transport system,” said Herron.
“However, we also need our residents to change their commuting patterns by making use of public transport as far as possible, and to try and travel outside of the peak hour periods.”
“In this sense business can contribute by implementing flexible working hours or by allowing employees to work from home, where feasible,” he said.