Speed limit to be reduced to 60km/h on Maple Drive as more issues were discussed in a public meeting
Maple Drive will remain a full intersection temporarily until phase two of the K73 is completed.
A public meeting was held on August 24 at Kyalami Preparatory School between Ward 132 residents and Gauteng Department of Roads and Transport representatives.
The meeting was regarding the Allandale Road and K73 Road upgrades. At a previous meeting on August 3, the issues that the residents had posed to the department included the Maple Drive left-turn only lane, proof for public participation in past meetings, workers working hours, lighting along the road, the plan for work during the Christmas holiday period, and problems with the road level being elevated higher than the boundary wall among other matters.
In the latest meeting, the chief engineer of the department Dr Louw du Plessis said the department had investigated the proposal from the residents to turn the Maple Drive intersection into a full-access intersection.
According to the findings of the department, a sight distance (length of roadway visible to a driver), of 300m was necessary for a design speed of 100km/h, however, this was not viable at the intersection.
“The proposal is to reduce the speed limit to 60km/h to achieve the legal sight distance of 180m,” said Du Plessis.
“The department will turn the Maple Drive intersection into a full intersection with a posted speed limit of 60km/h also considering that there is a school [Kyalami prep] which is less than 500m away from the intersection.”
Maple Drive would remain a full intersection temporarily until phase two of the K73 is completed.
According to Du Plessis, a petition has to be signed by the residents in the ward to allow the department to justify a budget for phase two which involves extending the K73 so that the incomplete Springwell Road can be extended to meet the K73 and become a full intersection.
Thereafter, Maple Drive could become a left-in, left-out intersection (a three-way road intersection where only left turns are permitted).
Other issues and solutions that were discussed at the meeting were:
- Construction trucks spilling rubble on the road – The construction project manager is to speak to the contractor to ensure that the construction trucks do not spill rubble onto the road surface.
- Construction working hours at night – The construction project manager is to speak to the contractor to ensure that there is no construction taking place after hours and at night.
- Street lighting along the road during construction and after final construction –The construction manager confirmed that there will be street lighting on the road once the road is constructed. Street lighting during construction is not possible, however, the contractor will look at installing flashing solar lights on the road during construction.
- Safety on pedestrian walkways – It was confirmed that there will be pedestrian walkways implemented along the K73 and Allandale Road.
- Plan of work around the Christmas period – Construction will stop from December 12 to16 and begin the first week of January 2023.
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