Midrand community proposes solutions for Gardens Road traffic congestion
Over a two-week period, multiple Traffic Free Flow pointsmen were stationed along Garden and 7th Routes to test the viability of creating a community project.
A local community member took on the task of finding solutions to a traffic problem in Midrand.
When load-shedding strikes, Gardens Road in Halfway Gardens becomes gridlocked during peak hours causing hours of frustration.
This prompted Mpho Makhoba to form a committee of central Midrand community members with the support of her company, LethiNqubeko Services to engage with government officials and all other relevant stakeholders and address the problem.
“LethiNqubeko partners with communities in addressing various issues that directly affect them. We are project consultants to assist the community address the traffic issues such as congestion further exacerbated by the load-shedding crisis,” explained Makhoba.
Makhoba and fellow community member Harold Zungu met with representatives of Traffic Free Flow (TFF) also known as Outsurance, affected schools, and JMPD to look for ways to improve the traffic flow.
It was decided over two weeks, pointsmen would be stationed along Garden and 7th routes to test the viability of creating a community initiative to sustain a team of pointsmen on an ongoing basis.
“A further exacerbating factor was that the current town planning infrastructure and municipal resources do not meet the demands of the population,” added Makhoba.
“In a 5km radius between Garden and Liebenberg routes, there are more than 40 complexes/estates, more than 10 schools, and more than 10 day-care centres…with more residential developments on the horizon.”
Jessica Fritz, the principal of Summerhill Preparatory School, said the presence of the pointsmen relieved travel times by up to 30 minutes during peak hours.
“On a normal day between 06:30 and 08:20, you would drive for approximately 25 to 35 minutes to get to a 4km destination,” said Fritz.
For Makhoba, her travel time to drop off her son at Christ Church College (3.3km from her home) was reduced by 20 minutes on a normal day when all robots were working, and during load-shedding from 45 minutes to 20 minutes.
The short-term plan is to keep the pointsmen at strategic intersections from mid-March to December to ensure that traffic flows.
Johnson Dlamini, a senior supervisor at TFF said, “The public expects us to be proactive in deploying to all critical intersections but we do not have sufficient manpower to do so. We highly advise local businesses to make contact with us to adopt their town by sponsoring a few pointsmen who can cover their heavily congested intersections.”
Details: Email Mpho Makhoba at info@lethinqubeko.co.za
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