City of Cape Town tackles congestion issue with more roads

Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash

Five new roads have already been added to Cape Town’s road network since the City Council endorsed the Congestion Management Programme.

In December 2015 the City committed to spending an additional R750m over a period of five financial years on road infrastructure projects to alleviate the worst congestion pressure points in Cape Town.

A congestion study prioritised Blaauwberg, Kuils River, and Kommetjie as the worst affected areas. Officials from COCT's Transport and Urban Development Authority (TDA) subsequently identified missing road network links or roads that should be turned into dual carriageways to relieve congestion at these hotspots. Other proposed interventions included capacity improvements at busy intersections and interchanges.

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An amount of R481m is budgeted for congestion relief projects over the next three financial years, starting on 1 July 2018. In April 2017 it was estimated that there is a R5bn backlog in roads infrastructure projects across the city.

The city’s mayoral committee member for transport and urban development, councillor Brett Herron, says: "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 completed projects are as follows:

• 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.

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The six road construction projects currently underway:

• 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.