Municipal

Dangerous embankment repaired along the N14

Repair work has been completed at the dangerous embankment situated at the R114 turnoff and N14 highway.

Due to the heavy rain on the West Rand in December 2022, a section of the embankment at the R114 turnoff and N14 highway collapsed.

This posed a major risk that the bridge might give in at some point which may lead to total disaster.

Councillor Shenan Cochrane said this concerning matter was brought to her attention by members of the public and she immediately reported it to the West Rand Provincial Roads Maintenance Department. During that same period, sandbags were placed at the collapsed area in an attempt to prevent further damage.

The embankment before repairs were done.

“During 2023, I have followed up with the West Rand Provincial Roads Department regularly but have received no response and no further work to repair the damage had been conducted. This section of the N14 is a ‘high accident zone’ and a truck crashed into the safety barriers resulting in it needing repair work. This was, however, done at the end of March 2023. Upon my inspection of the work, I discovered the collapsing embankment had become dramatically worse at least 50 times larger than the initial collapse in 2022 with a washed-away sheer drop of about 15m, not to mention the gum poles of the safety barriers were dangling in the air. The erosion was creeping under the actual road surface itself,” she worryingly said.

Cochrane continued to say this is an extremely busy road connecting Krugersdorp to Pretoria, whereupon consulting with a private engineer, the conclusion was that the embankment should be repaired during the winter of 2024 and before the rainy season, or else there was a huge risk of major collapse.

During the week of September 13 this year, Cochrane said the West Rand Provincial Roads Maintenance Department stepped in to prevent a catastrophe.

Another view of the embankment.

Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport MEC spokesperson Lesiba Mpya explained repair work included installing gabions (which are chain cages holding large stones together) at the bottom and stone pitching (cement where stones stick out) which was added on top to prevent erosion. Stormwater also needed to be channelled from the N14 down the embankment.

Lesiba added the regional manager of the West Rand Provincial Roads Maintenance Department, Bulelwa Thomas reported the erosion to the outsourced road maintenance service provider, who, through the services of a professional project civil engineer, conducted an investigation and developed a remedial method to address the problem and that the total cost of repair work was approximately R1.7m.

He concluded the repairs done will last a minimum of 20 years.

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