Frustrated residents of Vieira Road in Amarosa AH in Poortview have claimed that logging potholes with the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) is a complete waste of time after their longstanding complaint had allegedly fallen on deaf ears.
Residents with vehicles in this quiet area have been forced to avoid the road or drive slower than 20km/h along that stretch as the entire road is worn out and riddled with potholes.
One of the concerned residents, Izak van Rooyen, who suffered two punctures in December because of the horrible road surface, told Northsider that Vieira Road has been in this ugly state since 2017.
“We’ve been complaining about this road for all these years and what JRA would do is just patch it up, ” he said.
“Even that is done very poorly, judging by how the damage returns just after a few showers of rain,” he complained, suggesting that the entire route requires complete resurfacing.
“There are over 135 units in the residential complexes in the area and those people use this road, but most are forced to drive on the verges. Besides the tyres being at risks, the vehicles’ suspensions are also on the receiving end of this pain,” Van Rooyen highlighted the extent of the damage.
Another complainant, Joan Trautmann said, “All efforts by the trustees to get Council’s attention to rectify or repair this have been unsuccessful, and it seems not to be going anywhere. As a ratepayer, I feel that this is unacceptable as we have to drive through this maze every day.”
Ward 97 councillor Leah Knott, who has been inundated with complaints about this issue, and has had to carry this burden on her shoulders, disclosed correspondence in the form of emails from JRA officials about this issue. She showed a string of screenshots of the JRA officials requesting a list of roads to be prioritised for resurfacing, and Vieira was part of it. However, Leah claimed that Vieira was somehow excluded from the list and she had to add it again for the current financial year.
To bolster the seriousness of this complaint, a helpless Leah said she also had to draw up a petition to support the resurfacing plea, and that had no success.
JRA has been approached for comment but none has been forthcoming. An update will be published once their response has been received.
This is a developing story.
.
