Lightning strikes repaired traffic lights
A lightning strike has plunged the intersection back into darkness just a day after repairs.
A day after traffic lights at the intersection of Heidelberg and Airport roads were restored following a few days of downtime, they were struck by lightning and are non-operational again.
Earlier this year, the Mall@Carnival and other stakeholders adopted the traffic lights at this intersection, following months of the lights being out of order.
The mall has an agreement with the Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport to protect the lights.
In May, just days before the lights were finally repaired after months of being offline, an accident occurred while contractors were working on fixing the lights.
READ: WATCH: Accident at intersection hours before Mall@Carnival robots due to go online
While no one was injured, this highlighted the need for these lights to be operational, and now, during rainy weather this need is even greater.
The mall is negotiating with the department to gain access to the control box so they can turn the tripped lights back on, but are facing pushback.
“They don’t want to give us access to the control box, because it’s their property. I just spoke to the director to ask if we can have a key, because we can’t wait a week every time the robot trips,” said mall centre manager, Erna Vermaak.
In a message to tenants, Vermaak said: “A call was logged with the roads department and the technician will be on site tomorrow (December 10) or Thursday at the latest. We will continue to push to ensure it is working again soon.”
