Focus on Pretoria roads

THE poor state of Pretoria’s roads, which have claimed dozens of lives over the years, has prompted Roads and Transport MEC Ismail Vadi to conduct an inspection.

Vadi, together with community leaders, will examine the R55 and R511 this Friday.

Last month, a young Laudium mother of three died in a fatal crash and a few days later a man was killed in a three-vehicle pile-up on the R55 near Laudium.

Community leader Yusuf Abramjee said about 20000 vehicles used the R55 daily.

“Over the years, dozens of people have lost their lives on the R55.”

About four years ago, Abramjee led a delegation of community leaders to meet the then MEC for Roads and Transport in Gauteng to address the poor state of the roads.

“At the time, the tarmac was falling apart. Within days of our meeting, government agreed to upgrade the road.

“Four years later, the first phase of the R55 was completed at a cost of R220-million and opened to traffic in August last year. I made further representation for the remaining section of the road between Laudium and Sunderland Ridge. It is now in the advanced stage of completion at a cost of R280-million.

“By June, the entire R55 upgrade should have been completed, but the reality is a small section of the R55 extension is still in a very bad state,” said Abramjee.

He recently discussed the state of the road at the entrance of Laudium with Vadi as it has potholes and is in need of resurfacing.

“That, together with the R511 which joins that road and goes towards Erasmia, is in urgent need of maintenance. The R511 is in bad condition and a death trap.”

Vadi this week confirmed that he would be going out to conduct site visits on Friday and get an update on what is being planned in terms of an upgrade and the rehabilitation of the roads.

“The R55 is a high-volume road because of the increase in the number of residents in the area. It is also a major arterial route between Johannesburg and Pretoria. It is an alternate route which runs parallel to the highway. The provincial transport department is identifying the major arterial routes and over the next three years we want them to be rehabilitated, widened or made a dual carriageway if need be.”

He said they would have to upgrade the secondary roads because people would move to them when the e-tolling system started.