The Gauteng MEC for roads and transport has conducted a site visit to the N14 freeway rehabilitation project.
During the visit, Ismail Vadi said the R440 million project started just over two years ago in March 2017 and included the construction and upgrading of a 21km four-lane dual-carriageway from the Brakfontein interchange towards Krugersdorp.
It also included the construction of an additional lane on both the westbound and eastbound carriages, a new loop onramp to the eastbound carriageway from the Rooihuiskraal road as well as the N14/R114 Diepsloot interchange.
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“According to the briefing I received, the project is now over 95% complete,” he said.
Vadi said in terms of the budget, the bulk of the spending was done. The freeway was scheduled to be officially handed over to the department by July this year.
He said a few things remained to be done to complete the work.
“We still need to install the road signage at the freeway, which takes a while to complete,” he said.
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Vadi said the department was also busy constructing two new intersections as part of the project.
“One is the R114 which will lead from the N14,” he said.
“We did this so that people can have access to the R114 from the N14.”
Vadi said it was expected that this intersection would be completed next month.
A second intersection the department was constructing, was the Rooihuiskraal intersection.
“We have been experiencing difficulties with this specific intersection and it was not because we or the contractors cannot complete the work,” he said.
“The issue seems to be with the Rand Water underground piping system – in terms of the original design, all they had to do was to case the water pipe in and they could have built the road over it.
“However, it seems that the new standards they implemented, they do not want that kind of situation because should they have a problem, with the piping system, they would not have access.”
Vadi said as a solution, the department would now introduce a second contract.
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“They are in the process of building a bridge over the pipe that should be completed by next year.
“We are currently busy with the advertising for the project,” he said.
During the visit, Vadi also did a ceremonial opening of the freeway on Friday.
“I drove on the freeway a few nights ago and it is now a good quality road and traffic should now be a lesser concern,” he said.
“Well done to the people who worked on the project. I always say that we want a project within budget and it must be on time and the quality must be there.”
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