North motorists up in arms over traffic
“The spacing of the speed humps was determined by the traffic engineer in compliance with occupational health and safety requirements and standards."
Motorists from Pretoria North and Akasia are up in arms about the return of heavy traffic along Rachel de Beer Street.
This after six “traffic calming” speedbumps were installed by the Tshwane metro for “safety purposes”.
One resident, who wished to remain anonymous, voiced their frustration over the bumps to Rekord.
“You wouldn’t think that a few speedbumps would make such a big difference but our traffic is now as bad as it was years ago,” the irate resident said.
The speedbumps made their appearance last week Wednesday and have had residents grumbling on social media since then.
“Traffic is now as bad as it was years ago before they started with all the renovations and upgrading. It was okay before the speedbumps, but ever since then it has been a nightmare,” said the resident.
“It’s as if the government realised that they have actually solved a problem, and then said to themselves, ‘we can’t have this! We’re the government! We only create problems – or make them worse!’ Now traffic is rubbish again, like it used to be. We’re back at square one.”
For many residents in this area, it is only one of a handful of exit points they can use to commute to the city centre or elsewhere in Pretoria.
“I can take the highway to get to work to dodge this problem,” said the resident.
“But it would mean taking a huge detour with added petrol costs and R16 per shot for the tollgate. It is not an option.
Meanwhile, Tshwane metro spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the speedbumps are here to stay even though construction work in the area will end in December.
Mashigo said the speedbumps were installed in line with occupational health and safety measures.
They are “for the calming of traffic to protect not only the construction workers, but the bus rapid (BRT) transit commuters and the general public”.
“The speedbumps have been installed at an intersection with a traffic light to protect crossing pedestrians and construction workers from speeding vehicles approaching the traffic lights,” he said.
Mashigo further explained that the close proximity of the speedbumps was determined by the traffic engineer.
“The spacing of the speed humps was determined by the traffic engineer in compliance with occupational health and safety requirements and standards,” he said.
According to him, progress on the project was going well.
“The section of Paul Kruger/R101 road has been completed; however, the Hector Pieterson BRT station and the pedestrian bridge connecting to the Prasa [train] station is still under construction,” Mashigo said.
Site agent for Vharanani Projects Neil Kotze – responsible for constructing the long-awaited intermodal transport facility located in Pretoria North – said the intermodal transport facility they were constructing would ultimately include a taxi holding facility.
It would also have a parking facility for members of the public to park their vehicles when they boarded the A Re Yeng buses.
Kotze further said they anticipated that most of the roadworks which they were responsible for would be completed within the first quarter of this year.
In 2019, Tshwane BRT team member Lloyd Moti said their plans for the bus service would span over five years for the routes from the Wonderboom to Pretoria station.
In the meeting, Moti also revealed a broader 15-year plan extending the network from Kopanong in Soshanguve, to Atteridgeville, west of Pretoria, to Akasia, Rachel de Beer or Gerrit Maritz, Paul Kruger or Mansfield streets, Pretoria station, the city centre, Lynnwood, Mamelodi and Mahube Valley, all in the east of Pretoria.
“I believe people who do things like this [installing the speedbumps] should actually live in the neighbourhoods they affect and take those roads themselves,” said the anonymous resident.
“Instead, they just leave a lot of unhappiness in their wake.”
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