Motorists will be happy to know that traffic jams at the R21 and Nellmapius Drive intersection during load shedding will be a thing of the past.
Hollard Insure has partnered with the City of Tshwane and other stakeholders to connect the traffic lights at the intersection to the backup power provided by the Route 21 Office Park.
The partnership was borne out of the City’s adopt-a-light initiative that encourages businesses and communities to work with the municipality to help keep the lights on.
Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink said: “Through this adopt-a-traffic light initiative, the Route 21 Office Park has ensured that the traffic lights stay on throughout the day, even during load-shedding.”
The City and Hollard Insure launched the initiative to power up traffic lights at major traffic intersections during load-shedding and power outages, this week.
“This is indeed a brilliant initiative that has real impact and offers relief from the frustration that comes with sitting in traffic during load-shedding and addresses many road safety risks that emanate from traffic congestion,” Brink said.
He expressed gratitude to Hollard Insure and all the partners involved in the initiative.
“These types of collaborations form part of our whole-of-society drive, where we seek to work together with businesses, civil society and communities to improve service delivery and formalise partnerships among various stakeholders across Tshwane. We therefore encourage businesses, communities and residents to work with us to build a capital city we can all be proud of,” he said.
Meanwhile, the frustration of being stuck in traffic during load shedding is a thing of the past for motorists driving along Justice Mahomed and Jan Shoba streets in Brooklyn.
Last year, another private company MacRobert Incorporated Attorneys heeded the call by the City by adopting a traffic light on these streets in Tshwane.
The company said things had changed for the better since the introduction of the initiative to electrify the traffic lights at this intersection with an alternative source of power from the battery storage system.
At the time Ward 56 councillor Farad Frimmel hailed the project as brilliant because it assisted in easing traffic flow on the road.
He said the procedure for adopting a traffic light was to reach out to a local councillor to “engage with the city’s traffic light team so that they can come for inspection to see if it is possible. It is quite simple to do. They just connect the box and cable to your property”.
Pretoria News