After years of delays, the repair work on the Pierre Road street bridge has finally begun. The bridge, which connects Short and Alec roads, was declared unsafe by the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) in 2018 due to severe erosion of its culvert’s foundations and the appearance of sinkholes on the road surface.
The JRA has confirmed that the work began on March 28 and is set to be completed in November.

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Heavy rains over the years have made the damage worse, making the structure unsafe for both vehicles and pedestrians. According to previous news reports, the JRA had initially planned to repair the bridge in 2019, but the project stalled due to a contract breach and budget constraints. In March 2023, a collapse on Hendrik Potgieter Road forced traffic to be redirected to this route, and that is when people rediscovered that the bridge still exists, but still remained unsafe as repair work had not been done.

It wasn’t until a new contractor was appointed in 2023 that the project gained momentum as inspection, assessment, and regulatory requirements were completed with geotechnical investigations and environmental authorisations were expected to be completed by May and September, 2024. Following the sign-off on all the relevant documentation, work was set to commence by October with a planned completion date that was set for June 2024.

In February, Ward 97 councillor Jacques Hoon and the JRA invited residents to a meeting where an upgrade plan for the bridge was presented to the attendees of the meeting. According to the JRA, the repair work will involve a complete reconstruction of the culvert to restore the bridge’s stability and ensure it meets safety standards.

“The culvert bridge is located at about halfway on the Pierre Road, it is at the lowest point of the road, thus it is a low-lying structure. The existing culvert has been demolished, and a bigger structure is currently being reconstructed to improve hydraulic capacity. The project also entails the realignment of the road geometry (vertical and horizontal) and replacing the road pavement layers on either side of the structure along Pierre Road,” said the JRA’s Head of Infrastructure Development, Kwazelela Mcetywa.

Commenting on the delays that the project has faced, Mcetywa highlighted that the delays were predominantly at the commencement of the construction period due to the contractor’s slow rate of progress, existing services, and adverse ground conditions. “The contractor has submitted a catch-up plan, and we are still scheduled to meet the practical completion date of November 28,” he said.

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The Pierre Road project is part of a broader infrastructure challenge facing Johannesburg. The JRA’s figures show that approximately 80% of the city’s bridges are in poor or very poor condition, with 79% in Region C alone, requiring significant repairs or full reconstruction.