After weeks of frustrating traffic congestion at the intersection of Uranium Street and Winnie Mandela Drive, the traffic lights are finally operational again.

However, Ward 94 councillor David Foley said the recent outages have raised broader concerns around delayed repairs and recurring signal failures affecting major intersections across Lonehill and surrounding areas.

Foley said the traffic lights had been non-functional for about three to four weeks, resulting in severe congestion for motorists travelling between Dainfern, Fourways and Lonehill.

Read more: Peltier intersection traffic light reinstated and approved as safe by JRA

“You have traffic backed up all the way to Fourways Mall and beyond, while on the other side, it stretches halfway towards Dainfern. It’s very bad.”

Foley said the situation had also been worsened by delays in repairing damaged infrastructure, including a traffic light pole that had allegedly remained damaged for about two weeks after being knocked over in an accident.

“One of the challenges is when the traffic lights get knocked over, they tend not to be repaired quickly.”

According to Foley, the delays stem from the expiry of a contract between the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Gauteng Provincial Roads Department at the end of March, with negotiations underway to appoint new contractors for provincial roads.

Foley said several other high-traffic intersections in the area have also experienced prolonged outages.

“It’s not only this traffic light. You’ve got Montecasino that’s been flashing for quite a long time, and Lonehill Boulevard and Main Road have also been out.

“These are very intense intersections when it comes to traffic congestion during peak times.”

He warned that prolonged traffic signal failures often lead to dangerous driving behaviour, including motorists and taxi drivers using pedestrian walkways and cutting through intersections to avoid traffic.

“The whole of Lonehill Boulevard gets blocked up at times, and this creates taxis driving on pedestrian walkways and cutting through intersections.

Also read: Alleged drunk driver crashes into traffic light days after community celebrates repairs

“We really need to try and get this fixed. The province needs to get new contractors in place so we can get the traffic lights repaired as soon as possible.”

Attempts were made on March 3 to obtain comments from the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Gauteng Provincial Roads Department to confirm the allegations of expiring contracts. Neither party had responded to date.

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