Fontainebleau’s Junior Traffic Centre to reopen
Children will soon be riding their pedal bikes around the iconic venue again.
Children will once again be riding pedal bikes through stop signs, circles, sharp corners, working traffic lights, and even past a mini- petrol station, at the Junior Traffic Centre in Fontainebleau.
The centre has been an attraction in the community for decades, with youngsters having parties there and having fun while learning about the rules of the road.
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But the Junior Traffic Centre closed during lockdown, and since then has not reopened as the city started renovations, which have taken longer than residents would have liked.
Indoor climbing gym, CityRock has stepped in to help where it can by repainting the front gate, doing any de-weeding or gardening and generally anything that is needed. This while a city-employed contractor tackled the more serious projects.
“The contractor will be refurbishing the building inside the Traffic Centre, by replacing the floor tiles, painting the walls, and fixing the ceiling and toilets,” said Xolani Fihla, spokesperson of JMPD, which oversees the centre.
“The contractor is supposed to finish in the next two to three weeks. The JMPD outreach unit and the community will be able to use the centre for their programmes. The JMPD would like to express its gratitude to the community for kindly contributing to the effort to get the Junior Traffic Centre up and operating so that anyone who wants to use it can do so.”
Gym manager at CityRock Kirsty Lotter said she had driven past the centre many times in recent years and saw it not being used. “I thought we must do what we can and get children down here again. They will love it,” she said.
Former Ward 104 councillor Mike Wood is liaising between CityRock and the JMPD to coordinate efforts. Having been long involved in the upkeep of the centre, he looks forward to seeing it reopen.
CityRock has implemented projects that uplift the community, including cleaning Fontainebleau Park and installing soccer goal posts for the local school to use, and disc golf baskets in the park.
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