Freight trucks aren’t destroying R37
Sanral responded to media queries about Long Tom Pass and the freight trucks using it last week, while the R36 was still under construction.
LYDENBURG – Sanral responded to media queries about Long Tom Pass and the freight trucks using it last week, while the R36 was still under construction.
There has been a dramatic increase in freight-truck traffic on the pass.
The newspaper en route to Mbombela counted no fewer than 30 freight trucks in transit on the pass in less than 45 minutes.
Mr Ismail Essa, Sanral’s northern regional manager told Steelburger/Lydenburg News that this organisation was indeed aware that heavy-vehicle traffic had increased on this route.
“Sanral has not detected any undue deterioration of the R37 in this vicinity. The wear and tear is normal for a section of the road of this age with limited previous maintenance. The R37 is a public road and all properly licensed and roadworthy vehicles are allowed to use it, so legally there is no way of stopping the heavy vehicles from using the road,” Essa said.
“Sanral is confident that once the reconstruction of the R36 is completed, the trucks will use that road again. It will monitor the road as it does all the roads in its network and carry out the necessary maintenance and repairs as and when necessary. This is in order to keep the road section as safe and functional as possible,” he said.
