TRAC works hard to clean up travellers’ careless filth
About 800 black bags were filled with garbage, which was strewn between Komatipoort and the Lebombo Border Post.
KOMATIPOORT – During the festive season the N4, leading up to the Lebombo Border Post, turns into a dump site for hundreds of road users. TRAC is responsible for the cleanliness of the road and as part of its routine maintenance, has collected 800 black bags of rubbish which built up in the Komatipoort/Lebombo region over that period.
It took the cleaners two weeks to collect the garbage strewn next to the roads. “Cold-drink cans, chips packets and KFC boxes make up most of the garbage,” said a TRAC contract employee who worked on the stretch between Komatipoort and the Lebombo Border Post, which is 60 to 70 kilometres long and only eight people had been assigned to clean it.
Buses and taxis are usually pulled over onto an adjacent road to undergo clearance procedures, which eases the flow of traffic through the border. “It’s only over the festive period and Easter weekend that the road gets that dirty,” said TRAC spokesman Ms Solange Soares-Nicholson. “While the vehicles are being cleared, the road serves as a parking lot where people wait for long periods,” said Soares-Nicholson. “The higher the concentration of people, the higher the amount of garbage.”
She said due to the road not being that busy throughout the year, dustbins next to it were not really a necessity.
“We have a clean-up schedule along the route so they are not something we have looked into yet.”
TRAC cleans about 3 800m³ on the N4 between the Crocodile Bridge and the border throughout the year. “A large percentage of the toll money collected on this road goes toward cleaning it.”
She added it was difficult to establish which part of the N4 was the worst. “It’s all relative.
“Roads near industrial towns and townships are usually very dirty, but over the holidays that changes. It also depends which day of the week it is. Over weekends the whole road can be filthy.”
