End in sight for Rachel de Beer Street diversions

“We anticipate that the traffic diversions will be completed by December.”

September 25, 2020

Keitumetse Maako 2 minutes read

Traffic flow to city centre to Onderstepoort from Tuesday, 22 September.

The end might be in sight for traffic diversions which were in place along Rachel de Beer Street in Pretoria North.

“We anticipate that the traffic diversions will be completed by December,” Vharanani properties site agent Neil Kotze said.

Kotze said they were responsible for the main traffic diversions along the stretch of road.

This comes days after another diversion for motorists travelling from the city centre to Onderstepoort was opened up.

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Motorists would no longer turn left onto a ramp to travel to Onderstepoort, but instead, continue travelling straight.

Kotze said the most recent diversion would stay in place, while only one more was expected for motorists travelling from Onderstepoort to the city centre.

While he anticipated that all the road works they were responsible for, together with the two other contractors, would be completed in December, this was subject to other factors, such as obtaining approval from the Tshwane metro to remove the overhead pedestrian bridge.

During a public meeting at Danie Malan Primary School in 2019, Tshwane Bus Rapid Transit team member Lloyd Moti said their plans for the bus service would span over five years, as they built routes from Wonderboom station to Pretoria station.

Another station, Hector Pietersen, was expected to be completed by 2021.

Moti also revealed the broader 15-year plan included extending the network from Kopanong in Soshanguve, to Atteridgeville via Akasia, Rachel de Beer or Gerrit Maritz, Paul Kruger or Mansfield streets, Pretoria station, the city centre, Lynnwood, Mamelodi and Mahube Valley.

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Previous traffic diversions on the road, however, have not always run smoothly with delays occasionally being experienced as the inter-modal network was upgraded.

One such delay was when a lane conversion was delayed when the temporary cross-over at the pedestrian bridge had to be constructed.

In 2014, former mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa unveiled the first four buses of the planned fleet of 171 to crisscross the metro at the Mahatma Gandi station in the CBD.

The bus service, however, has not incident-free, with both A Re Yeng and Tshwane bus services being suspended on numerous occasions over the years, due to unrest.