Pretoria - The South African National Roads Agency Ltd (Sanral) has halted road construction projects across the country in order to ease traffic congestion during the festive season.
While the national road network makes up just over 22 000km of the country’s total road network of 750 000km, it carries the bulk of traffic during the December and January holiday period when interprovincial and international road travel peaks.
Announcing the state of the national road network, Sanral spokesperson Vusi Mona said the road construction industry would shut down operations on December 15 and resume on January 10, 2022.
He said, however: “There are instances where minor work will be ongoing during the holiday break, for essential operations.
“We will try as much as possible to minimise the impact on traffic flow by containing work to daylight hours and limiting work on weekends and public holidays.”
He said in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and the North West, work on stop-and-go traffic accommodations on the R37 Section 2, near Lydenburg, and on the R33 Section 14 outside Vaalwater would stop.
“No routine road maintenance is anticipated on the network during this time. However, should an emergency arise, such as the development of a pothole, urgent road maintenance arrangements will be made to attend it,” said the road utility operations and maintenance manager for the northern region, Madoda Mthembu.
“The maintenance will continue with day-to-day tasks, which include grass cutting and painting of road markings. Road markings will specifically occur on the Mozambique side, between Tchumene and Xai Xai interchanges, and on the South African side, between Kaalrug and Komatipoort,” he added.
In the Eastern Cape, Sanral announced that there would be ongoing maintenance work on the N2 Section 13 between Makhanda (Grahamstown) and the Fish River, with speed restrictions in place. The work involves patching and is expected to continue throughout the holiday period.
“On the R355 and R342, between Addo and Nguni River Lodge, approximately 15km is under construction. There will be two stop/go closures along this stretch of road, with reduced speed limits of 60km/h in place. The potential delay in travelling from Addo to Paterson is about 20 to 25 minutes,” Mona added.
In KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State, two-way traffic will be maintained on all construction sites.
“Generally, two-way traffic will be maintained on all construction sites. For the N3 upgrades, a minimum of two lanes per direction will be maintained,” said Ravi Ronny, Sanral design and construction manager for the Eastern Region.
“At the N3 Town Hill project in Pietermaritzburg, a minimum of two lanes are open in each direction. The construction team will, however, aim to have three lanes open on the southbound side. Work will continue for a short period during the holiday, making sure to minimise disruption to traffic flow.”
He said in the Western Cape and the Northern Cape, with upgrades to the Huguenot Tunnel complete, there would be no tunnel closures.
“The N7 and N1 will largely have free-flowing traffic. On the N2, there will be ongoing patching, between Swellendam and Riversdale, and a short portion east of Wilderness, throughout the holiday period,” Mona added.
Pretoria News