Gravel at large sinkhole on the R40 causes additional headache

While the R40 sinkhole has reportedly been repaired, it has not been resealed. The bollards surrounding it remain in place and the original cause of the sinkhole remains unclear.

The hole had suddenly appeared two weeks ago, on the night of April 25, in the middle lane of the R40 near Drum Rock, going up the hill from Mbombela towards White River. The sinkhole, which was not marked at the time of its appearance, subsequently caused damage to a number of vehicles that drove through it that night.

The Mpumalanga Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport’s spokesperson, Bongani Dhlamini, had previously told Lowvelder that resealing work was being done by Pule Construction on the left lane of the R40, and that the sinkhole had suddenly appeared in the middle lane after the contractor had left the site for the day.

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Meanwhile, Lowvelders have taken to social media with a new complaint regarding that stretch of the R40 currently being worked on: the loose gravel on the road.

A Facebook user, Nomfundo Benedicta, posted on the Lowvelder page that the thought of driving through “all that loose crusher” gives her anxiety. “The stones chip my windscreen. Someone has to attend to this,” she wrote.

Another Facebook user, Alec Groenewald, posted that he had been sending voicenotes and WhatsApp messages about the road the whole week. “It is chaos. No traffic control, stones flying all over, bumper bashing, etc. It is the worst ever, and no one is doing anything.”

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Pule Construction’s Pule Shakwane said the company had not received any complaints regarding the gravel on the road, but said the team was regularly sweeping it. He said they do try to close the road so they can complete the sweeping, but that some people open it up again. He added that if people drive fast on the stretch being worked on, there is a possibility of the gravel hitting vehicle windscreens.

He said Pule Construction is requesting a meeting with the department to assist in managing and preventing damage caused by this sinkhole. Shakwane said the workers sometimes noticed the next morning that after they had tried to close the lane being worked on the night before, the signs and cones had been driven over overnight. He said the lane lines should be painted by the end of this week.

Dhlamini said while the sinkhole has been repaired, the department is awaiting laboratory results from soil density tests. He said once these results have been received, it will be resealed and the temporary barricades removed. “The department has not received any complaints so far regarding the gravel. The cause of the gravel is the sinkhole, on which we are still going to work,” he said. “Our project manager is monitoring it.”