Council approves revised drive-through traffic study

ETA’s Gugu Mdlalose said: “Council has approved a road layout plan, which was informed by a Traffic Impact Assessment, as part of the Planning Application. The concerns raised are addressed in the plan. It is suggested that the complainants arrange to meet with the developer to discuss the road layout plan.”

But neighbours and the North Durban Ratepayers’ Association (NDRA) remain concerned and say the proposal’s revised traffic plan for the drive-through business “is dangerous and is in conflict with the eThekwini Road Safety Plan 2012-2016.” They say there will be loss of parking and increased traffic flows and. bottleneck conditions in Kenneth Kaunda Road.

In its letter of objection, the NDRA said: “We consider this proposal to be inappropriate and totally in conflict with the safety of the residents of Durban North, and more particularly, those residents living in the immediate vicinity and those passing through this area.”

The NDRA said it has since made and in situ study of the traffic in peak hours and ascertained that “a vehicle wishing to cross the up-coming traffic into Kelvin Place, from Tyne Place, could wait as long as five to six minutes. What would happen to vehicles waiting to enter enter and exit the Chicken Licken and what would happen to the traffic behind them?”

Concerns about the revised plans include: the proposal to move the public transport shelter to the front of the petrol station leaving limited pavement space, the new lay by proposal would reduce northbound traffic to one lane when taxis and buses enter Kenneth Kaunda Road. It would also cause the loss of parking in front of Northway Centre.

Parking on the site, as shown by the plan, is not feasible as the the aisle should be a minimum width of 5.5m and the plans shows it to be 3.0m which is insufficient for vehicles to enter and leave.

The drive-through lane on the east elevation is too narrow for vehicles and the driveway would encroach the boundary. Closing the exiting glide-off and creating a new one at the traffic signals creates unsafe conditions.

The proposed new entrance into 19 Kenneth Kaunda Road cuts directly in front of the exit of Northway Centre, which could lead to accidents.

Chicken Licken Franchise owner, Carlos Correia, said the current traffic situation is not good for anyone and believes the revised plans will be an improvement.

“I also live in Durban North. The property, which was an eyesore, will be upgraded. The city did not accept the first Traffic Impact Assessment, but has approved the revised one done by Arup.

“We will have to pay in the region of half a million rand to upgrade the road outside,” he said.

“The original traffic study was submitted to the eThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) and one of the comments raised was that the distance between the left slip lane, on Kenneth Kaunda Road (Northway) (coming from the south) and the access point on Tyne Place into the development, was too close from a safety point of view,” said Arup’s senior traffic and transport engineer/transport planning, Mohamed Kajee.

“We therefore prepared a few mitigation proposals to the municipality and the preferred solution is the subject of this discussion. “The new slip-lane will improve the road safety on Tyne Place for pedestrians (the elderly, pupils and workers), cyclists and motorists, as drivers will now negotiate the slip-lane more cautiously,” Kajee said.